LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


PRINCETON.  N.  J. 

Presented  by 


Eighty  years 


I 


JOSEPH   T.  SMITH,  D.D.,  LL.D. 


■  .  .  .  (      JUN?S19 

EIGHTY   YE^^ISf£^ 


Embracing  a  History  of  Presbyterianism  in 
Baltimore,  with  an  Appendix 


BY 


JOSEPH  T>SM1TH,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 

Pastor  Emeritus  of  the  Central  Presbyterian  Church  of  Balti- 
more, Md. 


THE    WESTMINSTER    PRESS, 

PHILADELPHIA,    PA., 
1899 


Copyright,  1 899,  by 

The  Trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication 

AND  Sabbath-School  Work. 


Dedication. 

The  following  pages  are  dedicated  to  the  ses- 
sion of  the  Central  Presbyterian  Church  of  Bal- 
timore, at  whose  request  they  were  prepared,  in 
memory  of  long  years  of  loving  fellowship,  and 
tender  sympathy,  and  hearty  cooperation,  and  in 
testimony  of  the  unnumbered  acts  of  kindness 
with  which  they,  along  with  the  church  they 
served,  have  brightened  the  closing  years  of  a 
long  life. 

Joseph  T.  Smith. 


I 


Contents. 


Preface      

Baltimore,  its  Founders,  and  its  Early  Settlers  .  . 

First  Presbyterian  Church  and  its  Pastors  .  .  . 
Dr.  Patrick  Allison  .  .  .  12  Dr.  John  C.  Backus  .  . 
Dr.  James  Inglis  ....  15  Dr.  James  T.  Leftwich 
Dr.  Wm.  Nevins  ....     17       Dr.  Jere  \Vithersjx)on  . 

Second  Church  and  its  Pastors 


PAGE 

ix 


Dr.  John  Glendy  •    •    .    .  33 

Dr.  John  Breckinridge   .  34 

Dr.  Rob't  J.  Breckinridge.  35 

Dr.  Lewis  W.  Green  .    .  39 

Dr.  Joseph  T.  Smith    .    .  40 


Dr.  George  P.  Hayes  . 
Dr.  Jonathan  Edwards 
Dr.  Robert  H.  Fulton  . 
Dr.  Alexander  Proud  fit 
Rev.  Robert  H.  Taylor 


Third  Church  and  its  Pastors 

Dr.  George  W,  Musgrave  .  49       Rev.  Griffith  Owen . 
Dr.  Theodic  Prior   ...    50 


9 
»9 

25 
29 

30 
45 
46 

47 
47 

48 

49 
51 


Fourth  Church  and  its  Pastors 51 

Rev.  George  Dugan  Pur-  Dr.  Jacob  Amos  Lefever.  .  52 

viance 51       Rev.  Mr.  Woods 52 

Fifth  Church  and  its  Pastors 52 

Dr.  J.  G.  Hamner   ...     52       R.  S.  Hitchcock 53 


Constitutional  Church 53 

V 


VI 


CONTENTS. 


AisQuiTH  Street  Church  and  its  Pastors    .    .   .    , 
Rev.  Robert  W.  Dunlap  ,    54       Rev.  J.  A.  Lapsley 


Rev.  Thomas  Warren  .  55 
Rev.  David  T.  Carnahan  .  55 
Rev.  J.  S.  Stuchell  ...  55 
Dr.  James  S.  Ramsay  .   .    55 


Rev.  J.  S.  Noyes  .... 
Rev.  George  D.  Buchanan 
Rev.  Silas  Davenport  .    . 
Dr.  J.  Addison  Smith  .   . 


PAGE 

53 
55 
55 
55 
55 
55 


Broadway  Church  and  its  Pastors 


Dr.  Thomas  E.  Peck 
Rev.  F.  \V.  Brauns  . 
Rev.  J.  J.  Coale  .    . 
Rev.  John  McCoy   . 


56  Rev.  John  L.  Fulton 

57  Dr.  George  E.  Jones 

58  Rev.  W.  J.  Rowan  . 
59 


56 
59 
60 
61 


Franklin  Street  Church  and  its  Pastors 61 

Dr.  William  S.  Plumer  .  .    62       Dr.  J.  J.  Bullock 67 

Dr.  N.  C.  Burt 67       Dr.  Wm.  U.  Mulrkland  .    .    67 


Westminster  Church  and  its  Pastors 


Dr.  Wm.  J.  Hoge ....  68 

Dr.  Cyrus  Dickson  ...  69 

Dr.  David  C.  Marquis .  .  80 

Dr.  Wm.  J.  Gill  ....  81 


Rev.  Morris  E.  Wilson 
Rev.  J.  W.  Rogan  .  . 
Rev.  John  M.  Allison  . 


.  68 
.  81 
.  81 
.    81 


Central  Church  and  its  Pastors 82 

Dr.  Stuart  Robinson   .    .    84       Dr.  Joseph  T.  Smith  ...  87 

Dr.  Thomas  E.  Peck  .    .    86       Rev.  Hugh  K.  Walker  .    .  97 

Rev.  Silas  G.  Dunlap  .    .    86       Rev.  DeWitt  M.  Benham  .  97 

Madison  Street  Church  (Colored)  and  its  Pastors  ...  99 
Rev.  Robert  L.  Galbreath, 100  Rev.  Joseph  Carr  .  .  .  .  •.  loi 
Rev.  Mr.  Revels  ....  loi       Dr.  Wm.  H.  W^eaver  .    .    .  loi 

Twelfth  Church  and  its  Pastors 102 

Rev,  C.  B.  McKee  ...  102       Dr.  J.  M.  Jelly 103 

Rev.  James  Hughes .  .  .  103  Rev.  Sylvester  W.  Beach  .  103 
Rev.  Wm.  R.  Marshall  .  103  Dr.  David  B.  Greigg  ...  103 
Rev.  Jas.  M.  Maxwell .  .  103       Rev.  Joseph  S.  Malone  .    .  103 


CONTEIS^TS.  VU 

PAGE 

Light  Street  Church  and  its  Pastors 103 

Rev.  Henry  J.  Kaufman  .  103       Rev.  James  D.  Fitzgerald  ,  105 

Rev.  John  H.  Potter  .    .    105       Rev.  J.  P.  Green 105 

Rev.  G.  W.  Hair  .  .  .  .105  Rev.  Kinley  McMillen  .  .  105 
Rev.  Wm.  G.  Hillman  .  105  Rev.  W.  M.  Everett  ...  105 
Dr.  David  J.  Beale  ...  105 

Brown  Memorial  Church  and  its  Pastors 105 

Dr.  John  Sparhavvk  Jones.  107  Dr.  Maltbie  D.  Babcock .  .  108 
Dr.  Frank  Gunsaulus  .    .  107 

Knox  Church  (Colored)  and  its  Pastors 109 

Rev.Wm.  McC.  Hargrave.  1 10  Rev.  Alonzo  S.  Gray  .  .  .  1 10 
Rev.  Wm.  C.  Brown  .    .  no 

Tome  Street  Church  AND  ITS  Pastor iii 

Rev.  J.  Wynne  Jones  .    .113 

Grace  Church  AND  its  Pastors 113 

Rev.  Mr.  Higgins  .  .  .113  Rev.  Edward  F.  Eggleston.  114 
Rev.  Charles  Hedges  .    .113 

Lafayette  Square  Church  AND  its  Pastors 115 

Rev.  Samuel  McLanahan.  1 16  Rev.  Llewellyn  S.  Fulmar  .  1 18 
Rev.  Robert  J.  Rankin  .  117 

Boundary  Avenue  Church  AND  ITS  Pastors 118 

Dr.  George  T.  Purves  .  .  119  Rev.  Frank  E.  Williams.  ,  120 
Dr.  William  Durant    .    .120 

Abbott  Memorial  Church  and  its  Pastor 121 

Rev.  J.  Wynne  Jones  .   .121 

Faith  Church  and  its  Pastor 122 

Rev.  John  P.  Campbell  .  124 

Fulton  Avenue  Church  and  its  Pastor 125 

Rev.  Edward  H.  Robbins.  1 26 


Viii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Church  OF  THE  Covenant  AND  ITS  Pastors 126 

Rev.  William  L.  Austin  .  126       Rev.  Henry  S.  Graham.    .  128 

Bohemian  Church  and  its  Pastors 128 

Rev.  Vaclav  Losa    .    .    .128       Rev.  V.  Vanek 129 

Park  Church  and  its  Pastor 129 

Rev.  George  L.  Curtis    .  130 

RiDGLEY  Street  Church  and  its  Pastor 130 

Rev.  Edward  E.  Weaver.  132 

Crisp  Memorial  Church  and  its  Pastors 133 

Rev.  Charles  E.  Fisk  .    .  134       Rev.  Mr.  Adams 134 

Rev.  Wm.  L.  Parsons  .  .  134       Rev.  Thomas  L.  Springer  .  134 

Reid  Memorial  Hope  Institute I34 

Rev.  William  Caldwell  .  135 

APPENDIX. 
Spiritual  condition  and  progress  of  the  Churches    .    .  137 

The  Civil  War hS 

Church  Unity ^59 

Federation  OF  Presbyterian  Churches 171 

Sermon  on  eightieth  birthday 180 

Sermon  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Johns 200 

Address  on  acts  and  deliverances  of  the  General  As- 
sembly during  the  war 224 


PEEFACE. 

The  Presbytery  of  Baltimore  at  its  sessions  in 
October,  1898,  resolved  to  notice  in  some  suitable 
way  the  approaching  eightieth  birthday  of  its 
oldest  pastor.  A  committee  to  draw  up  an  ap- 
propriate paper  was  appointed,  consisting  of 
Kev.  John  P.  Campbell,  D.  D.,  Kev.  Kobert  H. 
Williams,  D.  D.,  Kev.  J.  Wynne  Jones,  Eev. 
Howard  Taylor,  W.  W.  Spence,  J.  Abercrombie 
and  W.  II.  Cole.  The  Presbytery  further  re- 
quested that  Dr.  Smith  should  preach  a  sermon 
on  the  occasion.  The  session  of  the  Central 
Church  arranged  that  the  sermon  should  be 
preached  in  their  church  on  the  afternoon  of  his 
eightieth  birthday,  Sunday,  November  6th.  The 
committee  further  requested  that  he  would  pre- 
pare a  book  giving  some  reminiscences  of  the  dif- 
ferent ministers  and  churches  in  the  city  during 
his  fifty  years'  residence  in  Baltimore.  On  dif- 
ferent occasions  he  has  seen  best  to  review  the 
history  of  the  churches  in  Baltimore  and  he  has 
used  freely  the  material  thus  furnished  wherever 
appropriate  to  the  occasion.  He  has  gone  at 
greater  length  into  the  history  of  the  First  and 


X  PREFACE. 

Second  Churches  and  their  pastors  because  these 
are  historic  churches,  and  their  earlier  history  is 
known  to  comparatively  few.  The  notice  as  to 
the  later  churches  and  their  living  pastors  is 
more  brief.  In  some  cases  the  information  is  not 
as  full  as  desired  because  in  the  short  time  al- 
lowed all  the  facts  could  not  be  secured.  In  the 
pages  following  will  be  found  a  copy  of  the  ser- 
mon preached  and  the  reminiscences  of  ministers 
and  sketches  of  church  history  requested. 
Baltimore,  Md,,  December,  1898. 


EIGHTY    YEARS. 

BALTIMORE,     ITS     F0U:N^DEES,     EAELY 

SETTLERS,  AKD  PRESBYTERIAI^ 

CHURCLLES. 

The  three  great  powers  of  Europe,  Spain, 
France  and  England,  contended  Avith  each  other 
for  the  possession  of  the  new  world.  Spain,  then 
the  mightiest  empire  on  earth,  claimed  the  whole 
by  right  of  discovery,  and  seized  upon  the  West 
Indies,  the  Isthmus,  Florida,  Louisiana,  Mexico, 
and  was  gradually  pushing  her  way  northward. 
France  took  possession  of  Canada  and  was  slowly 
advancing  southward  down  the  great  valley  and 
up  to  the  base  of  the  Alieghenies.  Between 
these  upper  and  nether  millstones  the  feeble 
English  colonies  along  the  middle-Atlantic  coast 
it  would  seem  must  either  be  ground  to  poAvder 
or  shut  up  in  a  narrow  prison  house  between  the 
mountain  and  the  sea.  But  not  to  Papal  Spain, 
or  Papal  France,  but  to  Protestant  England  God 
has  given  the  magnificent  inheritance  of  the  new 


2  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

world.  Canada,  whose  broad  domains  extended 
from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  northern  pole,  passed 
into  the  hands  of  England.  The  thirteen  Eng- 
lish colonies,  in  process  of  time,  transformed  into 
independent  States  and  compacted  into  the 
mightiest  Kepublic  the  Avorld  has  ever  seen,  grad- 
ually annexed  Florida,  Louisiana,  large  portions 
of  Mexico,  and  extended  their  ever  widening 
boundaries  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and 
from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  sunny  Gulf.  Then, 
passing  from  the  continent  to  the  islands  along- 
side, emancipated  them  from  Spanish  control 
and  left  to  Spain  not  a  shred  of  her  old  domin- 
ions in  the  new  world. 

Presbyterians  Avere  among  the  last  of  the 
great  Protestant  bodies  Avho  sought  an  asylum  in 
America.  The  storm  of  persecution  which  drove 
so  many  from  the  fatherland  fell  first  upon  In- 
dependents, Catholics  and  Friends.  Presbvteri- 
ans  were  left  amidst  the  struggles  and  triumphs 
of  the  Commonwealth  and  the  fier}^  trials  of  the 
Kestoration  to  be  purified  and  disciplined  for 
their  glorious  mission  to  the  new  world.  Not 
till  it  Avas  attempted  by  Charles  II.  to  enforce 
the  Act  of  Uniformity,  infamous  among  the 
nameless  infamies  of  the  Stuarts'  reign,  did  Pres- 
byterians in  large  numbers  come  over  from  Scot- 
land and  the  north  of  Ireland. 

Midway  of  the  Atlantic  coast  God  had  thrust 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  3 

a  great  inland  sea  far  into  the  land  and  reaching 
up  toward  the  precious  things  of  the  mountains 
and  of  the  great  valley  beyond.  With  its  genial 
skies  and  spacious  harbors,  commanding  at  once 
the  commerce  of  the  land  and  the  sea,  it  seemed 
destined  to  be  the  Mediterranean  of  the  new 
world.  In  1632  the  Chesapeake  with  a  wide  area 
around,  was  granted  by  royal  charter  of  Charles 
I.  to  Lord  Baltimore.  The  king  was  an  intoler- 
ant Protestant,  the  proprietor  was  an  intolerant 
Catholic,  for  toleration  was  then  a  thing  un- 
known to  either.  Since  neither  could  persecute 
the  other,  the  very,  necessities  of  the  case  com- 
pelled the  toleration  of  both  religions,  and  de- 
spite themselves  and  despite  the  intolerance  of 
the  age  Maryland  became  an  asylum,  almost  the 
only  one,  for  the  oppressed  of  every  faith.  Per- 
secuted Presbyterians,  from  Scotland,  Ireland, 
'New  England  and  Pennsylvania,  fled  to  Mary- 
land, and  Presbyterian  churches  were  established 
on  the  Eastern  Shore,  far  down  toward  the  sea, 
gradually  extending  westward  along  both  shores, 
with  the  advancing  population. 

At  the  head  of  the  Chesapeake,  200  miles  from 
the  sea,  God  had  spread  out  a  magnificent  har- 
bor, large  enough  to  accommodate  the  commerce 
of  the  world.  Around  it,  in  1730,  Baltimore 
town  was  laid  out,  on  a  paltry  patch  of  sixty 
acres  of  marshes  and  ravines  and  blulfs,  but  sur- 


4t  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

rounded  with  beds  of  iron  and  quarries  of  marble 
and  falls  and  tumbling  torrents,  affording,  it  is 
said,  a  larger  water  power  than  any  similar  area 
of  the  world.  So  situated,  if  the  Chesapeake 
was  to  become  the  Mediterranean  of  the  new 
world,  Baltimore  would  be  its  Tyre. 

In  1Y30  the  Episcopal  Church  was  established 
in  Maryland,  and  St.  Paul's,  the  mother  of  all 
our  Episcopal  churches  was  the  first  built  in  Bal- 
timore town.  Soon  after,  the  Catholics,  and 
after  them  the  Lutherans,  and  then  the  Friends, 
built  their  little  wooden  sanctuaries,  and  gathered 
their  little  companies  of  worshipers.  ISTot  till 
about  1760  do  we  hear  anything  of  Presbyterians 
in  Baltimore  town.  By  that  time  a  few  had 
come  from  other  quarters,  as  Stevenson  from 
Ireland,  and  Plowman  from  England,  but  the 
larger  number  came  from  central  Pennsylvania 
whence  they  were  driven  b}^  the  difficulties  which 
had  arisen  between  the  Colonial  Assembly  and 
the  Proprietary  Government.  It  is  not  invidious 
to  say  that  these  men  beyond  most  others,  gave 
to  Baltimore  its  commercial  prosperity  and  in 
the  face  of  all  rivals,  St.  Mary's,  Joppa  and  An- 
napolis, made  her  the  Queen  of  the  Chesapeake. 
Their  names  are  found  on  our  streets  and  our 
wharves,  and  are  engraved  on  our  social,  educa- 
tional and  philanthropical  institutions  in  letters 
more  imperishable  than  those  on  their  marble 


EIGHTY   YEAES.  5 

mausoleums  in  the  Gay  Street  and  Westminster 
burying  grounds. 

Among  them  Avere  such  names  as  these  :  Buch- 
anan, Patterson,  Calhoun,  Gilmer,  McKim,  Mc- 
Elderry,  Murdoch,  Meredith,  McDonald,  Bryson, 
Chase,  Ramsay,  Hayes,  White,  Beatty,  George, 
Hollins,  Gregg,  Stirling,  the  Smiths,  the  Purvi- 
ances,  and  the  Browns.  These  names  are  house- 
hold Avords,  associated  with  all  the  great  enter- 
prises of  the  city  and  still  perpetuated  and  hon- 
ored in  the  persons  of  their  numerous  descend- 
ants. As  a  specimen  of  the  whole,  take  from 
our  oldest  historic  church  three  of  our  oldest  his- 
toric families;  the  Smiths,  Purviances  and  the 
Browns. 

Of  the  Smiths,  John,  first  of  the  name,  came 
to  Baltimore  town  about  1763,  when  it  was  a 
paltry  little  village  of  some  thirty  houses  and  less 
than  300  inhabitants.  He  founded  soon  after 
his  arrival  the  large  commercial  house  of  Smith 
&  Buchanan.  It  was  largely  through  his  influ- 
ence that  legislation  was  secured  which  trans- 
formed the  basin  into  the  port  and  made  Balti- 
more a  commercial  metropolis.  He  became  a 
member  of  the  committee  which  transformed  the 
colony  into  the  State  and  gave  the  remnant  of 
his  life  largely  to  the  service  of  the  infant  com- 
monwealth. Eobert,  his  son,  was  a  leading  mem- 
ber of  the  House  and  afterwards  of  the  Senate  of 


6  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

the  State,  Attorney-General  and  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  of  the  United  States,  Provost  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Maryhmd,  and  first  President  of  the 
Eible  Society.  Another  son  Samuel,  was  Major- 
General  in  the  Army  of  the  United  States,  the 
hero  of  Brandywine  and  Fort  Mifflin,  defender 
of  Baltimore  in  1812,  illustrious  in  war  as  his 
brother  in  peace. 

Contemporary  with  the  Smiths  were  the  Pur- 
viances,  Robert  and  Samuel.  They,  too,  became 
the  founders  of  one  of  our  largest  commercial 
houses,  and  cooperated  inlluentially  in  the  meas- 
ures which  insured  the  commercial  supremacy 
of  Baltimore.  When  the  long  strife  with  the 
mother  country  culminated  in  the  determination 
to  unite  the  colonies  in  resistance  to  the  Stamp 
Act  and  the  Boston  Port  Bill,  the  Purviances  se- 
cured the  calling  of  a  public  meeting  at  which  a 
resolution  was  passed  pledging  the  support  of 
Baltimore  to  the  common  cause  and  originating 
the  movement  Avhich  led  to  the  calling  of  a  gen- 
eral congress  of  the  colonies.  Through  all  the 
dark  days  of  the  Pevolution,  the  Purviances  were 
the  trusted  agents  of  Congress  in  securing  ships 
and  supplies  from  Maryland.  Robert  became 
the  first  naval  officer  and  collector  of  the  port. 
Samuel  was  made  chairman  of  a  committee  to  cor- 
respond with  the  other  towns  of  the  colonies  to 
secure   their   allegiance   to   the   common   cause. 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  7 

For  the  high  place  occupied  by  Maryland  in  those 
times  which  tried  men's  souls  she  is  indebted 
most  of  all  to  the  Purviances.  Judge  John  Pur- 
viance,  son  of  Pobert,  brought  to  the  bench  a 
wealth  of  learning,  a  dignity  and  urbanity  of 
bearing,  and  an  integrity  above  all  suspicion 
which  elevated  the  bar  of  Baltimore  to  the  high 
place  it  has  maintained  ever  since.  His  daughter. 
Miss  Margaret  Purviance,  gave  her  life  to  minis- 
trations of  mercy,  following  closely  the  footsteps 
of  the  Great  Benefactor,  as  he  went  about  doing 
good.  There  is  scarce  a  house  of  mercy  in  Balti- 
more on  which  her  name  is  not  written  in  letters 
of  light.  In  how  many  sorrowing  hearts,  and  in 
how  many  stricken  households  is  it  enshrined! 
"When  the  ear  heard,  then  it  blessed  her;  be- 
cause she  delivered  the  poor  that  cried,  and  the 
fatherless,  and  him  that  had  none  to  help  him. 
The  blessing  of  him  that  was  ready  to  perish 
came  upon  her :  and  she  made  the  widow's  heart 
to  sing  for  joy." 

The  Browns  belong  almost  to  our  own  genera- 
tion. We  name  them  here  because  they  were  of 
like  spirit  with  those  who  had  gone  before,  en- 
tered into  their  labors,  perfected  what  they  had 
commenced,  and  perpetuated  their  character  and 
influence  among  us  to  this  day.  Alexander,  first 
of  the  name,  came  to  Baltimore  in  1800,  founded 
the  great  banking  house  of  Brown  Brothers,  with 


8  EIGHTY   YEAKS. 

branches  in  Philadelphia,  New  York,  Liverpool, 
London,  and  credit  everywhere.  His  son,  George, 
inherited  his  high  character  and  ample  fortune, 
and  made  the  name  of  George  Brown,  may  Ave 
not  say  it,  the  most  illustrious  in  the  long  roll  call 
of  Baltimore  worthies.  A  model  merchant,  a 
model  man,  a  model  Christian,  with  a  business 
sagacity  that  was  seldom  at  fault,  and  an  integ- 
rity that  was  never  soiled,  he  gave  his  money, 
his  influence,  and  himself,  freely  to  every  good 
work.  Head  of  the  great  house  of  Brown 
Brothers,  founder  of  the  Merchants'  Bank,  presi- 
dent of  the  Mechanics'  Bank,  father  beyond  all 
others  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  his 
material  monuments  are  all  around  us.  But  it  is 
his  highest  honor  that  he  used  his  influence  and 
his  Avealth  as  talents  held  from  God  to  be  em- 
ployed for  the  good  of  men.  Beyond  all  others 
he  inaugurated  the  era  of  beneficence,  first  in  the 
long  succession  of  the  Wilsons,  McDonoughs, 
Peabodj^s,  Kelsos,  Hopkinses,  and  Pratts,  which 
have  made  the  name  of  Baltimore's  benefactors 
illustrious. 

From  his  ascending  chariot  his  mantle  fell  on 
his  widow,  Mrs.  Isabella  Brown.  His  spirit  still 
lived  incarnate  in  her  and  still  scattered  its  bene- 
factions around  through  her  hands.  How  in- 
stinctively every  good  cause  turned  to  her  for 
help,  how  abundant  were  her  benefactions,  and 


EIGHTY   YEAKS.  « 

how  much  was  she  beloved  of  the  Lord,  for  be- 
yond all  Ave  have  known  she  was  a  cheerful 
giver.  When  asked  for  any  good  cause  she  al- 
ways made  you  feel  that  the  favor  was  done  to 
her,  in  affording  her  the  luxury  of  giving.  Not 
Brown  Hall  in  Princeton  or  Brown  Memorial 
Church  alone,  there  was  scarcely  a  church  in  the 
Presbytery,  or  a  house  of  mercy  in  the  city  or 
commonwealth,  which  did  not  share  her  benefac- 
tions. Her  mantle  fell  again  upon  her  son, 
George  S.,  and  thank  God,  the  spirit  of  George 
Brown  still  lives  incarnate,  not  in  one  family 
alone,  but  in  measure  in  the  whole  Presbyterian 
household.  Examine  the  statistics  of  the  great 
institutions  which  symbolize  our  common  Chris- 
tianity, Bible  Society,  Tract  Society,  Sunday- 
school  Union.  Presbyterians  may  invite  com- 
parison with  their  brethren  of  every  name.  Such 
were  the  men  who  founded  the  Presbyterian 
churches  of  Baltimore,  and  such  the  spirit  they 
breathed  into  them. 

FIKST  CHUKCH. 

It  is  diiRcult  to  fix  the  time  when  the  First 
Church  originated,  for  it  grew  into  a  church 
slowly  and  by  successive  transformations  from  a 
little  company  of  worshipers  meeting  from 
house  to  house  without  pastor  or  leader.  In 
1763  they  invited  the  Eev.  Patrick  Allison  to  be- 


10  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

come  their  minister  and  in  the  same  year  erected 
a  little  log  church.  They  had  no  ecclesiastical 
organization  but  were  governed  as  a  secular  as- 
sociation by  a  committee  or  board  of  directors 
of  their  own  choice  and  responsible  onl}^  to  them. 
In  1798  the  congregation  was  incorporated  by 
Act  of  Assembly  under  the  name  of  the  "  Com- 
mittee of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  City  of 
Baltimore."  This  committee  without  ordination 
or  relation  of  any  sort  to  the  Presbytery  com- 
bined all  offices  in  itself  and  administered  all  af- 
fairs of  the  congregation,  temporal  and  spiritual. 
It  was  not  till  the  year  1804  that  the  congrega- 
tion was  transformed  into  a  church  by  the  elec- 
tion and  ordination  of  elders.  Its  first  elders 
were  Kobert  Purviance,  David  Stewart,  Chris- 
topher Johnson,  George  Salmon,  and  Ebenezer 
Findlay. 

Their  first  house  of  worship  w^as  a  little  log 
building  near  the  corner  of  Gay  and  Fayette 
Streets  where  Christ  Church  now  stands.  Soon 
after  the  arrival  of  Dr.  Allison  it  was  determined 
to  erect  a  new  church  on  the  northwest  corner 
of  Fayette  and  North  Streets,  and  in  1766  the 
church  was  finished  and  occupied.  It  was  a 
plain,  brick  building  35x45  feet  and  had  thirty- 
six  pews,  a  large  church  for  those  daj^s.  This  in 
turn  gave  place  to  a  larger  brick  building  on  the 
same  site  which  after  successive  enlargements, 


EIGHTY  YEARS.  11 

renovations  and  ornamentations,  in  1792  appeared 
as  the  two- towered  church,  so  familiar  to  all  our. 
older  inhabitants.  It  stood  on  a  hill,  for  the 
bluff  on  a  spur  of  which  it  was  built  had  not  then 
been  leveled.  It  had  a  spacious  portico ;  and  an 
entablature  supported  by  four  large,  white,  Doric 
pillars,  crowned  by  two  steeples,  and  was  ap- 
proached by  a  Pilate's  stairway  of  stone  steps, 
long  and  winding  and  weary  of  ascent. 

In  1853,  owing  to  the  encroachment  of  busi- 
ness and  the  removal  of  many  families,  it  was 
determined  to  remove  the  church  further  west- 
Avard,  and  a  lot  Avas  secured  on  the  corner  of 
Madison  and  Park  Streets  and  the  building  com- 
menced. The  old  church  was  sold  to  the  United 
States  Government  which  leveled  the  hill  and 
erected  the  courthouse  that  now  marks  the  spot. 
On  a  memorable  Sabbath  in  1859  farewell  serv- 
ices were  held  in  the  old  church,  conducted  by 
Dr.  Backus  assisted  by  other  pastors  in  the  city. 
None  that  Avitnessed  that  scene  can  ever  forget 
it.  Tears  dimmed  the  eyes  or  rolled  down  the 
cheeks  of  the  old  men,  and  all  as  they  bade  fare- 
well to  the  hallowed  spot  turned  aAvay  with  slow 
and  reluctant  steps. 

On  the  following  Sunday  the  ncAV  church  Avas 
opened  Avith  simple  but  impressive  ceremony. 
The  building  is  an  ornament  to  the  city  Avhich 
arrests  the  steps  and  aAvakens  the  admiration  of 


12  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

the  most  careless  passer-by.  It  is  a  masterpiece 
of  art,  with  its  exquisite  proportions,  its  delicate 
traceries,  and  Gothic  foliage  wreathed  around  its 
springing  arches.  It  is  a  sermon  in  stone,  its 
lofty  tower  rising  above  all  and  its  tall  spire 
pointing  with  fixed  finger  to  heaven. 


PASTORS    OF   THE   FIRST   CHURCH. 

Dr.  Allison,  first  in  the  long  succession  of 
pastors,  Avas  born  in  Lancaster,  Pa.,  in  the  year 
1740.  He  was  graduated  by  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  in  1760.  lie  commenced  at  once 
the  study  of  theology  privately,  for  in  those 
days  there  were  no  theological  seminaries,  was 
licensed  to  preach  by  the  second  Presbytery  of 
Philadelphia,  in  March,  1763,  and  in  August, 
1763,  was  installed  pastor  of  the  First  Church. 

Dr.  Allison  was  a  prince  in  Israel,  "  a  born 
leader  and  commander  of  the  people."  With  an 
intellect  of  a  high  order  and  the  broadest  culture 
of  his  times,  with  tireless  energy  and  rare  ad- 
ministrative gifts,  he  w^as  just  the  man  for  the 
times.  For  he  came  to  the  kingdom  in  a  most 
important  crisis  in  its  history  during  that  great 
transition  era,  when  old  things  were  passing 
away  and  all  things  were  becoming  new',  the  era 
of  Napoleon  in  Europe  and  of  Washington  in 
America.     Accumulated  rubbish  was  to  be  swept 


EIGHTY   YEAKS.  13 

away  and  foundations  were  to  be  laid  anew.  For 
such  a  time  as  this  God  had  raised  up  Dr.  Alli- 
son. His  long  pastorate  of  almost  forty  years  ex- 
tended over  this  most  eventful  period  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  city,  the  Church  and  the  world.  He 
witnessed  the  growth  of  the  little  village  of 
thirty  log  houses  into  a  city ;  he  saw  the  founda- 
tions laid  of  those  institutions,  commercial,  edu- 
cational and  philanthropic  which  have  made  Bal- 
timore what  it  is.  He  was  cotemporary  with 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  heard  the 
ringing  of  bells  which  proclaimed  "liberty 
throughout  all  the  land  to  all  the  inhabitants 
thereof."  He  accompanied  the  armies  of  the 
Kevolution  on  many  a  weary  march,  to  many  a 
bloody  battlefield  of  alternate  victory  and  defeat, 
during  the  seven  years'  war  of  Independence. 
He  witnessed  the  transformation  of  the  colony 
of  Maryland,  with  its  royal  governor  and  es- 
tablished Church,  into  the  free  State  of  Mary- 
land, with  its  free  Church.  He  witnessed  the 
adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution  wliich  made 
of  the  many  weak  and  struggling  colonies  one 
great  nation.  In  the  very  same  year  with  the 
Federal  Constitution  he  saw  the  constitutions  of 
the  two  historic  English  churches,  the  Presby- 
terian, and  Episcopal,  formed  after  the  same 
model  and  largely  by  the  same  men.  And  how- 
ever either,  or  both,  may  have  departed  in  any 


14  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

measure  from  their  own  principles,  their  con- 
stitutions bind  both  to  a  Kepublican  form  of 
government  in  which  the  people  under  Christ 
are  their  own  rulers  and  assemblies  and  conven- 
tions and  presbyteries  and  bishops  are  their  ex- 
ecutive agents,  constitutional  and  not  arbitrary 
rulers.  In  many  of  these  momentous  changes 
Dr.  Allison  was  a  most  influential  actor.  He 
Avas  the  confidential  friend  of  Washington,  chap- 
lain to  Congress  when  it  sat  in  Baltimore,  and 
shared  the  councils  of  the  leading  statesmen  of 
the  day.  His  studies  and  experience  as  a  states- 
man were  an  education  for  his  higher  work  as  an 
ecclesiastic.  In  Americanizing  the  Westminster 
Confession  and  adapting  it  to  its  new  environ- 
ment, no  influence,  not  even  that  of  Dr.  Eogers 
or  Dr.  Witherspoon  was  more  potential  than  that 
of  Dr.  Allison.  For  seven  successive  years,  dur- 
ing its  whole  forming  period,  he  was  moderator 
of  the  Presbytery  of  Baltimore. 

As  a  preacher  he  was  not  brilliant  or  breezy 
or  popular  in  the  present  sense  of  those  terms. 
Argumentative  and  unimpassioned,  he  addressed 
himself  to  the  understanding  of  his  hearers.  His 
discourses  were  largely  on  ethical  themes,  and 
the  moralities  as  distinguished  from  the  spiritu- 
alities of  the  gospel.  He  belonged  to  the  old 
style  of  those  days  and  was  a  conservative  of  the 
conservatives.     He  stood  in  doubt  of  the  Whit- 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  15 

fields,  Tennants,  and  Blairs  of  his  time,  and  looked 
upon  their  Avork  at  first  with  Avonder,  and  finally 
with  open  disapproval.  Under  his  ministry,  what- 
ever deeper  spiritual  experiences  any  might  have, 
religion  was  looked  upon  largely  as  a  thing  of 
credible  professions  and  outward  moralities. 
There  were  neither  weekly  lectures,  nor  prayer 
meetings,  nor  Sunday-schools,  nor  Young  People's 
Societies,  nor  Old  People's  Societies,  nor  any  of 
those  churches  within  the  church  which  are  now 
deemed  so  helpful.  At  the  close  of  Dr.  Allison's 
pastorate  the  congregation  was  large,  Avealthy, 
fashionable,  strong  in  all  the  elements  of  mate- 
rial and  social  strength,  but  waiting  for  power 
from  on  high. 

DR.    JA3IES    INGLIS. 

In  1802,  full  of  years  and  honors.  Dr.  Allison 
Avas  gathered  to  his  fathers,  and  Avas  succeeded 
by  Dr.  James  Inglis.  He  Avas  born  in  Philadel- 
phia, in  1777,  of  mingled  Scotch  and  Huguenot 
ancestors.  He  Avas  graduated  at  (Columbia  Col- 
lege, New  York,  at  the  age  of  eighteen.  Having 
chosen  the  law  as  his  profession,  he  entered  as  a 
student  the  laAv  office  of  Alexander  Hamilton, 
but  the  Lord  had  need  of  him  for  a  higher  service 
and  called  him  by  his  Spirit  for  the  Avork  of  the 
ministry.     He  prosecuted  his  theological  studies 


16  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Rodgers,  and  ^Yas 
licensed  by  the  Presbytery  of  New  York  in 
1801. 

Two  marked  advances  took  place  under  Dr. 
Inglis's  ministry — the  discharge  of  the  old  com- 
mittee from  all  spiritual  functions  by  the  elec- 
tion of  elders  in  1804  and  the  commencement 
of  weekly  lectures.  Dr.  Inglis  was  courtly  and 
cultured  in  his  manners  and  eloquent  of  the  high- 
est type  of  eloquence.  His  polished  discourses, 
though  read,  were  delivered  with  all  the  fluency 
and  fervor  of  extemporaneous  speech.  The  poi- 
son of  French  infidelity  had  infected  many  of 
the  leading  statesmen  of  the  day,  permeated 
the  schools  and  colleges  of  the  land  and  spread 
throughout  the  entire  community.  What  a  sad 
picture  Dr.  D wight  has  given  of  the  abounding 
infidelity  of  the  times.  Christianity  was  largely 
banished  from  all  courtly  and  cultured  social 
circles.  Dr.  Inglis  by  his  learning  and  eloquence 
won  back  many  of  the  alienated  classes.  At 
the  close  of  his  seven  years'  ministr}^,  merchant 
princes,  bankers,  professional  and  educated  men, 
Avere  found  in  large  numbers  in  the  church.  In 
1819,  on  a  Sabbath  morning,  Avhile  the  congre- 
gation were  assembled  waiting  for  his  appear- 
ance, a  messenger  came  to  them  with  the 
tidings  that  their  pastor  had  died  suddenly  of 
ai)oplexy. 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  17 

DR.   WILLIAM   KEVINS. 

Dr.  Inglis  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  William 
Kevins,  whose  name  is  as  ointment  poured  forth. 
He  was  born  in  Norwich,  Conn.,  October  13th, 
1797,  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1816,  and  pur- 
sued his  theological  studies  at  Princeton.  He 
was  installed  pastor  of  the  First  Church  October 
19th,  1820. 

Dr.  Kevins  was  in  every  way  a  remarkable 
man.  Of  ardent  temperament,  imperial  imagi- 
nation and  exquisite  sensibilities.  He  was  a  poet, 
an  artist,  a  musician  and  an  orator.  Genial  as 
the  sunshine,  with  that  nameless  magic  of  pres- 
ence which  won  all  hearts.  He  seemed  to  be 
born  for  a  life  of  luxurious  ease  and  indolent 
enjoyment,  and  upon  such  a  life  he  seems  in 
early  youth  to  have  entered.  While  living  with- 
out God  in  the  w^orld,  suddenly  there  appeared 
to  him,  as  to  Paul  on  his  w^ay  to  Damascus,  a 
vision  of  the  crucified  Saviour,  and  instantly  the 
whole  current  of  his  life  was  changed.  Coming 
to  a  church  large,  wealthy  and  influential,  but 
spiritually  dead,  for  long  years  he  waited  and 
watched,  more  than  them  who  watch  for  the 
morning,  but  there  was  neither  sign  nor  voice. 
While  his  preaching  was  admired  for  its  artistic 
excellence  and  attracted  crowds  of  interested 
hearers,  and  among  them  none  more  interested 
than  William  Wirt  and  his  literary  friends,  the 


18  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

church  was  not  quickened,  souls  Avere  not  born 
unto  God  and  his  ministry  seemed  to  him  to  be 
fruitless.  At  length,  on  an  ever  memorable  Sab- 
bath morning,  March  7th,  1827,  he  entered  his 
pulpit  as  usual.  There  were  no  unwonted  stir- 
rings in  his  own  heart  and  no  unusual  signs  in 
the  congregation,  when  he  arose  and  announced 
his  text,  "Now  is  the  accepted  time."  As  he 
went  on  a  strange  spirit  began  to  breathe  and 
burn  in  his  words  and  he  spake  with  another 
tongue  as  the  Spirit  gave  him  utterance  and  the 
Holy  Ghost  fell  upon  the  entire  assembly.  There 
Avas  no  sound  of  rushing  Avinds  or  sign  of  cloven 
tongues.  But  the  effect  of  that  sermon  was  no 
less  marvelous  than  that  of  Dr.  Edwards'  on 
''  Sinners  in  the  Hands  of  an  Angry  God,"  or  of 
Peter's  on  the  day  of  Pentecost.  That  Avas  the 
Baltimore  Pentecost.  And  not  on  the  First 
Church  alone,  but  on  the  same  day,  the  baptism 
of  the  Spirit  fell  on  the  Second  and  Third 
Churches.  Christians  Avere  revived  and  lifted  up 
to  a  higher  plane  of  Christian  living  and  souls  in 
large  numbers  Avere  brought  home  to  God.  The 
evangelical  spirit  Avhich  is  in  our  churches  to-day 
was  inbreathed  on  that  memorable  morning.  In 
the  full  noon  of  his  years,  and  in  the  midst  of 
his  usefulness,  Avhen  but  thirty-seven  years 
of  age  he  died,  and  dying  left  to  us  the 
precious   legacy  of   his  evangelical  spirit  and  a 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  19 

new    apocalypse    of    heaven  in  his   "Practical 
Thoughts." 

DR.   JOHN  C.  BACKUS. 

Dr.  Kevins  Avas  succeeded  in  1836  by  the  Eev. 
Dr.  John  C.  Backus. 

Dr.  Backus  was  born  in  Wethersfield,  Conn., 
on  the  3d  day  of  September,  1810.  A  child  of  the 
covenant,  he  was  nurtured  in  a  family  of  affluence 
and  refinement,  and  surrounded  in  childhood 
with  all  the  hallowed  influences  of  a  Christian 
home.  Planted  in  the  house  of  the  Lord,  brought 
up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord,  he 
devoted  himself  in  early  youth  to  his  service  in 
the  ministry.  He  enjoyed  the  highest  advantages 
of  literary  and  theological  training,  and  profited 
in  these  above  most  of  his  fellows.  He  was 
licensed  by  the  Presbytery  of  New  Brunswick, 
and  immediately  after  appointed  agent  of  the 
Board  of  Domestic  Missions.  On  his  way  south 
he  stopped  in  Baltimore,  preached  in  the  First 
Church,  then  vacant,  was  called  to  be  their 
pastor,  and  ordained  and  installed  on  the  15th  of 
September,  183G.  The  First  Church  was  then 
the  leading  church  in  the  city  and  in  the  Presby- 
tery. Dr.  Kevins,  whom  he  was  to  succeed, 
was  a  man  of  preeminent  gifts,  "full  of  faith 
and  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and  the  young  pastor,  ever 
profoundly    self -mistrustful,    was    overwhelmed 


20  EIGHTY   YEAES. 

with  the  magnitude  of  the  work  before  him. 
But  taking  hold  of  the  arm  of  Everlasting 
Strength,  strong  in  the  Lord  and  in  the  power  of 
his  might,  he  went  forward,  "  faint  and  yet  pur- 
suing," perplexed  but  not  in  despair.  From  the 
hour  when  he  uttered  his  ordination  vows  dates 
the  beginning  of  that  long  career  of  supreme 
devotion  and  superabundant  labors,  which  ended 
only  with  his  life. 

To  the  people  of  his  charge  he  gave  himself 
with  whole-souled  consecration.  His  preparation 
for  the  service  of  the  pulpit  Avas  most  laborious, 
— investigating,  reading  up  on  every  subject,  and 
writing  out  every  sermon  fully.  Even  his  vaca- 
tions brought  him  no  rest.  The  winter's  work 
was  mapped  out,  and  materials  for  it  accumulated 
during  the  summer  holidays.  As  a  pastor,  we 
know  not  how  to  speak  truthfully  of  him  Avithout 
seeming  to  transcend  the  truth.  All  the  families 
of  his  charge,  with  all  their  peculiarities  of  age 
and  temperament,  and  culture  and  social  position, 
were  borne  severally  on  his  mind  and  heart.  His 
ministrations  of  all  good  gifts  to  the  poor  of  his 
flock,  his  tender  solicitude  for  the  young,  his 
manly  counsels  to  men  of  business,  his  tender 
sympathies  Avith  the  aged  and  the  infirm  as  he 
went  out  and  in  among  them,  made  him  like 
John  the  beloved.  There  Avas  scarcely  a  phase 
of  Christian  experience  through  Avhich  he  himself 


EIGHTY    YEARS.  21 

had  not  passed,  and  the  inquiring,  the  perplexed, 
the  spiritually  troubled  in  every  way  found  in  him 
the  counsels  of  one  in  whom  the  same  affliction 
had  been  accomplished.  At  the  bed  of  sickness, 
in  the  chamber  of  grief,  at  the  funeral,  he  was  a 
very  angel  of  consolation.  He  watched  for  souls 
over  which  the  Holy  Ghost  had  made  him  over- 
seer, as  one  that  must  give  account. 

While  pastor  of  the  First  Church  Dr.  Backus 
was  at  the  same  time  bishop  in  the  Bible  sense  of 
overseer  of  all  the  churches.  When  he  came  to 
Baltimore  he  found  but  three  Presbyterian 
churches,  and  while  the  city  was  rapidly  ex- 
tending there  was  no  corresponding  extension  of 
the  church.  In  1842  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  R. 
J.  Breckinridge,  he  called  a  meeting  of  the  lead- 
ing members  of  the  First  and  Second  Churches, 
and  laid  before  them  a  carefully  matured  plan  of 
church  extension,  which  was  heartily  approved 
and  in  the  execution  of  Avhich  all  agreed  to 
cooperate.  From  that  meeting  began  a  work  of 
church  extension  unexampled  in  this  city,  and 
perhaps  in  any  other.  As  its  immediate  result 
twenty  new  churches  were  organized  in  the 
Presbytery  and  eight  in  the  city  within  the 
following  twelve  years,  and  the  extension  was 
going  on  with  increasing  vigor  until  arrested  by 
the  approaching  civil  Avar. 

During  his  visit  to  Scotland  Dr.  Backus  called 


22  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

on  Dr.  Chalmers,  the  Moses  of  the  Scottish  Free, 
Church.  The  Doctor  handed  him  his  book, 
"  Christian  Economics,"  unfokling  the  Bible 
plan  of  systematic  beneficence  as  revived  in 
the  Free  Church  of  Scotland.  On  his  return 
home  Dr.  Backus  secured  its  adoption  by  his 
own  church  and  other  churches  in  the  city,  and 
became  its  zealous  advocate  in  Synods,  Presby- 
teries and  Assemblies.  For  the  high  vantage 
ground  our  Church  occupies  to-day  in  the  matter 
of  systematic  giving  we  are  indebted,  above  all 
human  instrumentalities,  to  Dr.  Backus. 

As  years  rolled  on,  and  experiences  ripened  and 
character  mellowed,  and  influence  strengthened, 
his  field  of  usefulness  was  continually  enlarged. 
The  church  came  to  look  upon  him  as  a  leader 
and  guide.  In  1861,  he  was  made  Moderator  of 
the  General  Assembly.  He  was  a  member  of 
most  of  the  Boards  of  the  Church,  and  as  a 
director  for  many  years  of  Princeton  Seminary, 
his  services  were  invaluable.  His  voice  Avas  po- 
tential in  all  the  courts  of  the  Church  and  in  all 
its  agencies  for  spreading  the  gospel  throughout 
our  oAvn  land.  "  Full  of  years  and  of  honors  and 
in  the  full  noon  of  his  influence,  as  it  seemed  to 
us,  amidst  the  tears  of  the  people  he  had  loved 
and  served  so  long  and  so  well,  the  pastoral  rela- 
tion was  dissolved  December,  1875,  and  he  was 
made  pastor  emeritus.      Release  from   pastoral 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  23 

cares  brought  no  release  from  labor  which  was 
still  abundant.  How  beautiful  was  the  evening 
of  his  life,  how  glorious  the  sunset  splendor 
which  gathered  around  him,  how  calmly  he  fell 
asleep  in  Jesus  on  the  night  of  the  8th  of  April, 
1884: 

"  He  died  as  sets  the  morning  star  which  goes 
Not  down  behind  the  darkened  West  nor  hides 
Obscured  amidst  the  tempests  of  the  sky, 
But  mehs  away  into  the  light  of  heaven." 

In  the  character  and  life  of  Dr.  Backus  there 
was  a  striking  unity.  His  character  was  well 
rounded,  symmetrical  and  complete,  with  no  daz- 
zling qualities  or  distracting  protuberances.  All 
its  parts  were  exquisitely  proportioned  and 
blended  into  a  structure  harmonious  as  the  dome 
of  St.  Peter's  or  the  statue  of  Michael  Angelo. 
His  life,  too,  was  one, — not  broken  up  into  shreds 
and  fragments,  and  flung  around  here  a  little 
and  there  a  little.  It  was  passed  in  one  place,  de- 
voted to  one  work,  and  that  a  great  work.  Upon 
the  foundations  he  laid  he  built,  the  works  he 
commenced  he  carried  on,  the  influence  he  ac- 
quired he  used.  The  blessings  of  the  fathers 
came  back  upon  himself  and  upon  his  Avork  in 
redoubled  blessings  from  children  and  children's 
children.  And  never  was  his  influence  so  potent 
nor  his  labors  so  fruitful  as  in  his  last  days, 
around   which   the   halo   of   a   consecrated   life 


24  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

gathered.  How  unlike  the  broken,  fragmentary 
life  of  the  peripatetic  ministry  of  these  last  days ! 

He  Avas,  to  an  extent  seldom  equaled,  unself- 
ish. As  most  here  knew  him,  he  seemed  to  have 
risen  above  all  sense  of  personal  interest  or  ag- 
grandizement, above  all  feeling  of  vanity  or 
pride  or  rivalry  or  personal  ambition.  Tried 
often  and  in  many  ways,  from  his  very  eminence  a 
shining  mark  for  the  archers,  the  arroAvs  of  envy, 
malice  and  detraction  fell  blunted  and  harmless 
at  his  feet.  If  he  grieved,  it  was  not  for  himself, 
but  for  the  cause  Avhich  suffered.  We  say  it  de- 
liberately, seldom  has  mortal  man  lived  with 
such  utter  forgetfulness  of  self  and  such  a  single 
eye  to  his  Master's  glory. 

He  was  preeminentl}^  a  man  of  faith  and  of 
prayer.  He  walked  with  God.  He  believed 
God.  He  saw  God  as  the  pure  in  heart  see  him. 
He  saw  heaven  and  the  eternal  things  with  the 
faith  which  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for, 
and  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen.  His  closet 
was  to  him  the  very  audience  chamber  of  the 
great  King.  He  was  accustomed  to  set  apart 
frequent  seasons  of  special  prayer  for  his  own 
soul  in  the  crises  of  his  spiritual  history,  for  his 
church,  for  the  Church  at  large,  for  individuals. 
With  absent  friends  he  often  fixed  a  certain  time 
in  the  day  Avhen  they  would  meet  in  the  spirit. 
Sometimes  in  his  darkened  study  you  Avould  find 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  25 

him  alone ;  it  was  his  hour  of  special  prayer. 
The  morning  after  the  loss  of  a  dear  child,  I 
found  him  alone  in  his  darkened  study.  "All 
through  the  sleepless  night,"  said  he,  "  I  seemed 
to  be  lifted  above  my  sorrow.  The  Lord  was  so 
near  and  my  visions  of  him  and  his  kingdom 
were  so  transporting,  that  I  seemed  all  the  night 
long  to  be  with  him  on  another  Mount  of  Trans- 
figuration,"— then  passed  at  once  to  talk  of  the 
work  so  near  his  heart.  And  in  that  life  of  faith 
and  prayer  he  found  inspiration,  guidance  and 
strength  for  his  work. 

DR.   JAMES    T.    LEFTWICH. 

Dr.  Backus  Avas  succeeded  by  the  Kev.  Dr. 
James  Turner  Leftwich,  who  was  installed  Oc- 
tober 28th,  1879.  Dr.  Leftwich  Avas  born  in 
Bedford,  Ya.,  January  3d,  1835.  His  literary 
education  Avas  procured  partly  at  Princeton  and 
Yale  colleges,  and  his  theological  education,  at 
Union  Seminary,  Xcav  York.  From  the  semi- 
nary he  Avas  called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  church 
in  Alexandria,  Ya.,  and  after  serving  it  for  some 
years  became  pastor  of  the  church  in  Atlanta, 
Ga.,  from  Avhich  he  Avas  called  to  Baltimore, 
Avhich  he  served  until  the  pastoral  relation  Avas 
dissolved  February,  1893. 

For  almost  five  years  Dr.  Leftwich  had  the 
priceless   privilege   of   the   most   intimate   com- 


26  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

panionship  with  Dr.  Backus.  Delicate  as  their 
relations  were  between  two  spirits  of  such  mag- 
nanimity there  could  be  nothing  but  the  most 
hearty  confidence  and  warmest  Christian  affec- 
tion. Dr.  Leftwich  was  preeminently  a  theolo- 
gian and  regarded  it  as  his  special  work  to 
strengthen  the  foundations  upon  which  the 
Church,  with  all  its  institutions  and  activities, 
could  alone  securely  stand.  He  labored  to  un- 
fold the  system  of  truth  and  vindicate  the  polity 
of  the  church  he  loved,  and  fasten  both  firmly 
upon  the  impregnable  rock  of  the  Word.  I  think 
Dr.  Leftwich  had  one  of  the  greatest,  if  not 
the  greatest  mind  in  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  early  as  was  his  taking  off,  his  brethren  had 
come  to  appreciate  his  greatness. 

Before  he  was  generally  known  in  the  Church 
at  large,  a  most  important  committee  on  the  re- 
vision of  the  Constitution  and  method  of  amend- 
ing it  was  ordered  by  the  General  Assembly. 
As  I  happened  to  be  Moderator  of  the  Assembly 
at  the  time,  I  placed  Dr.  Leftwich  on  the  com- 
mittee. The  brethren  came  to  me  one  after  an- 
other and  asked,  ''  Who  is  Dr.  Leftwich  ?  ^Ye 
want  our  best  men  on  this  important  com- 
mittee." But  Avhen  its  work  was  done,  and  his 
share  in  it  was  known,  no  one  after  that  asked, 
Who  is  Dr.  Leftwich  ?  When  the  committee  on 
the  revision    of   the   Confession,   to   Avhich    this 


EIGHTY   YEAES.  27 

looked  forward,  was  appointed,  Dr.  Leftwich,  by 
common  consent,  was  made  a  member  of  it. 
And  it  is  the  testimony  of  those  who  were  asso- 
ciated with  him  that  no  counsels  were  listened  to 
with  more  interest  and  profit  than  his.  His 
mind  was  cast  in  the  Westminster  mold.  It 
was  clear,  logical,  impatient  of  all  mist  and  in- 
directions and  compromises,  piercing  through  all 
the  disguises  of  error,  seeking  the  truth,  the 
whole  truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  and 
when  grasped,  holding  it  with  a  conviction  which 
nothing  could  shake.  He  was  eloquent,  at  times 
surpassingly  eloquent,  for  he  had  an  imperial  im- 
agination, a  rainbow-tinted  fancy,  the  most  ex- 
quisite sensibilities,  the  most  ardent  affection, 
the  most  polished  speech,  the  rhythm  of  his  sen- 
tences always  falling  upon  the  ear  as  the  sweet- 
est music.  But  his  eloquence  Avas  always  the 
eloquence  of  truth,  winged  by  imagination,  in- 
stinct with  celestial  fire,  indeed,  but  always  the 
truth.  His  supreme  concern  was  with  those 
great  foundation  truths  upon  which  the  Church 
is  built — the  doctrine  of  God,  Father,  Son,  Spirit, 
the  Sovereignty  of  God,  his  immutable  and 
eternal  decrees,  his  absolute  justice  and  his 
boundless  love,  the  depravity  of  man — a  deprav- 
ity universal  as  to  the  race  and  total  as  to  the 
individual,  the  necessity  of  the  new  birth,  the 
Atonement,    the    cross    and   blood-shedding   of 


28  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

Christ,  not  his  life  only,  not  his  teachings  only, 
not  his  example  only,  but  his  Blood,  his  sacri- 
fice for  sin,  as  the  great  cardinal  truth  of  the 
gospel,  and  the  only  hope  of  salvation  of  the 
lost.  These  great  doctrines  he  believed  were 
necessary  to  the  very  existence  of  the  Church  of 
God,  and  were  to  be  the  animating  spirit  of  all 
its  activities.  If  banished  from  the  pulpit  or  re- 
tired to  the  background,  if  appeals  and  appliances 
from  other  quarters  were  substituted  in  their 
place,  he  believed  that  all  would  be  lost.  It  Avas 
his  special  mission  to  vindicate  these  doctrines  of 
grace  as  the  source  of  light,  inspiration  and  ac- 
tivity in  the  Church  of  God. 

He  came  here  in  the  midst  of  his  years  and  in 
the  full  noon  of  his  powers,  but  scarcely  had  he 
entered  upon  his  Avork  till  that  fatal  and  slow 
wasting  malady,  which  consumed  his  life,  fell 
upon  him.  Seldom  has  a  martyr  at  the  stake 
endured  such  tortures  in  every  quivering  nerve, 
and  seldom  has  martyr  endured  his  tortures  with 
greater  heroism.  How  often  we  have  seen  him 
Avhen  racked  with  pain,  tottering  on  his  staff 
from  door  to  door  on  his  errands  of  mercy.  How 
often  he  ascended  the  pulpit  when  every  nerve 
was  crying  out  with  anguish.  Ever  as  we  looked 
upon  him  Ave  saAV  the  handwriting  of  death  upon 
his  countenance.  For  Aveeks  he  Avas  at  the  Johns 
Hopkins  Hospital  in  this  city.     It  was  the  privi- 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  29 

lege  of  many  to  stand  by  his  sick  bed  and 
listen  to  his  inspiring  words  of  faith  and  hope. 
How  calmly,  hopefully,  joyfully  he  leaned  upon 
his  Saviour's  bosom  !  Once  I  visited  him,  when 
tortured  with  pain,  he  looked  up  from  his  bed  of 
suffering  and  said,  "  It  is  all  right,  brother,  it  is 
all  right."  When  at  last  he  was  called  to  pass 
through  the  valley  of  the  death  shade,  he  entered 
it  singing  the  old  psalm  of  faith  and  victory  for 
the  rod  and  staff  of  the  Good  Shepherd  upheld 
and  comforted  with  tokens  of  his  presence  and 
visions  of  the  goodly  land  beyond. 

DR.  J.  WITHERSPOON. 

Unable  to  serve  the  church  longer  from  failing 
health.  Dr.  Leftwich  resigned  his  charge  in  Febru- 
ary, 1893,  and  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Jere  Wither- 
spoon,  December  24th,  1893.  Dr.  Witherspoon  is 
a  native  of  Virginia.  When  called  to  Baltimore 
he  was  pastor  of  the  First  Church  of  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  one  of  the  largest  and  most  influential 
churches  in  the  state.  Dr.  Witherspoon  had  been 
eminently  successful  as  a  pastor  in  Xashville, 
and  the  thoughts  of  the  First  Church  had  early 
turned  to  him  as  the  successor  of  Dr.  Leftwich. 
Letters  of  commendation  were  received  from 
many  quarters  and  a  committee  of  the  church 
visited  Nashville,  heard  him  preach,  and  saw  his 
work,  and  Dr.  Witherspoon  was  elected  pastor. 


30  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

His  sweetness  of  spirit  and  warmth  of  sym- 
pathy and  gentleness,  and  grace  of  manner  won 
for  him  universal  esteem  and  the  Avarm  affection 
of  his  brethren  in  the  ministry,  who  testified  to  it 
in  many  ways.  In  1897,  he  received  a  call  from 
a  church  in  Richmond,  Ya.,  which  he  felt  it  his 
duty  to  accept,  and  the  pastoral  relation  was  dis- 
solved.    The  church  is  now  vacant. 

The  present  officers  of  the  church  are  William 
"W.  Spence,  Dr.  Russell  Murdoch,  Elisha  H.  Per- 
kins, Edmund  F.  Witmer,  John  Y.  L.  Graham. 
Deacons,  George  W.  Rodgers,  William  Reynolds, 
J.  Frank  Bailey,  George  Leiper  Carey,  William 
H.  Dix,  George  K.  Witmer,  Douglas  M.  Wylie. 
The  trustees,  pastor  president  ex-officio,  Richard 
D.  Fisher,  Charles  J.  Appold,  Dr.  J.  J.  Chisolm, 
John  Y.  L.  Findlay,  Albert  Fahnestock,  Robert 
M.  Wylie,  John  McKim,  John  M.  Hood,  Harry 
F.  Reid,  Oscar  F.  Breese. 

SECOI^D  CHURCH. 

The  second  congregation  was  founded  in  1802. 
At  a  meeting  of  the  First  Church,  to  elect  a  suc- 
cessor to  Dr.  Allison,  Dr.  Glendy  and  Dr.  Inglis 
were  the  candidates.  Dr.  Inglis  was  elected  by 
a  small  majority  and  the  friends  of  Dr.  Glendy 
resolved  to  withdraw,  form  a  second  congrega- 
tion, and  invite  Dr.  Glendy  as  their  minister. 
They  began  at  once  the  erection  of  a  church  on 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  31 

the  corner  of  East  Baltimore  and  Lloyd  Streets, 
which  was  completed  in  1805.  In  the  Telegraph 
and  Daily  Advertiser  of  November  17,  1804,  ap- 
peared the  advertisement  of  a  lottery  to  be  drawn 
on  the  September  following  for  the  benefit  of 
the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  then  building. 
The  lottery  was  drawn  and  yielded  the  sum  of 
$8,090.00.  The  church  was  a  large  rectangular 
brick  building,  its  massive  walls,  without  tower 
or  entablature  or  ornamentation  of  any  kind, 
its  spacious  interior  with  wide,  cold  brick-paved 
aisles,  high,  straight-backed,  torturing  pews,  ob- 
trusive galleries,  narrow  tub  pulpit,  overhung 
with  an  umbrella-shaped  sounding-board.  For 
half  a  century  it  was  one  of  the  most  conspicuous 
landmarks  in  East  Baltimore,  until  taken  down 
in  1851.  The  Second  Church  had  no  infancy  of 
immaturity  and  struggling.  It  was  strong  from 
the  beginning,  in  numbers,  wealth  and  social  in- 
fluence. In  1804,  articles  in  the  form  of  a  consti- 
tution, were  adopted  for  the  government  of  the 
congregation  under  Avhich  a  committee  of  thir- 
teen was  chosen  to  administer  its  affairs.  As  in 
the  First  Church  this  committee  was  the  only 
oiRcial  body,  and  were  elders,  deacons  and  trus- 
tees in  one.  Their  names  were  James  Breese, 
Thomas  McElderry,  Thomas  Dickson,  John  Mc- 
Kim,  Jr.,  James  Armstrong,  John  Rollins,  James 
Slicer,  Joseph   Spear,  Henry  Payson,  Kennedy 


32  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

Long,  John  Campbell  White,  Hugh  McCurdy, 
and  James  Hutton.  In  1806,  General  Smith 
gave  a  lot  of  two  acres  far  out  on  the  Bel  Air 
road,  for  a  burial  lot,  which  was  inclosed  by  a 
high  stone  wall.  In  1811,  the  first  session  was 
elected  and  ordained  as  appears  from  the  follow- 
ing minute :  "  On  the  last  Lord's  day  in  April, 
1811,  in  strict  conformity  with  the  principles  and 
discipline  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  the  unor- 
dained  members  of  the  congregation  were  or- 
dained elders  by  their  stated  pastor  with  the 
unanimous  approbation  of  the  said  society,  viz : 
Alexander  Brown,  James  Sloan,  James  Beatty, 
William  Yance,  Kobert  Stewart,  William  Mc- 
Donald, William  McConkey,  William  Camp,  John 
Crawford.  In  1814,  we  find  the  first  notice  of 
ofi'ering  for  the  extension  of  the  kingdom ;  $50 
for  missions,  $50  for  the  education  of  a  young 
man  for  the  ministry  and  a  collection  ordered 
for  Princeton  Seminary. 

In  1820,  a  Sunday-school  was  organized,  con- 
sisting of  twenty-three  teachers  and  thirteen 
pupils,  all  females.  The  instruction  was  largely 
secular.  The  teachers  were  drafted  in  detach- 
ments until  the  number  of  pupils  demanded  the 
service  of  all.  They  met  in  private  rooms,  and 
officers  and  teachers  were  fined  for  late  attend- 
ance or  neglect  of  duties.  Weekly  lectures  and 
prayer  meetings  were  things  unknown. 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  33 

PASTORS   OF  THE  SECOND  CHURCH. 

Dr.  John  Glendy  was  installed  first  pastor  in 
April,  1805.  He  was  born  in  Londonderry,  Ire- 
land, June  24th,  1755.  He  was  educated  in  the 
schools  of  his  native  town,  and  on  the  completion 
of  his  theological  studies  was  ordained  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Londonderry.  He  was  an  ardent 
patriot,  after  the  Irish  type,  was  suspected,  per- 
haps justly,  of  complicity  with  the  great  Rebel- 
lion, and  after  a  series  of  hidings  and  hairbreadth 
escapes,  succeeded  in  making  his  way  to  America. 
Landing  in  Norfolk,  his  impassioned  eloquence, 
for  he  shared  the  genius  of  his  countrymen, 
Phillips  and  Grattan,  and  threw  the  same  spell 
over  his  audience,  attracted  crowds  wherever  he 
preached.  An  Irishman,  with  all  the  brilliant 
characteristics  of  his  race,  he  w^as  at  the  same 
time  a  Scotch  Presbyterian,  adhering  to  his  faith 
with  sturdy  Cameronian  constancy.  Courtly  in 
his  manners,  he  had  access  to  all  social  circles, 
even  the  most  exclusive.  He  became  the  inti- 
mate friend  of  President  Jefferson,  and  was  a 
frequent  guest  at  the  presidential  mansion.  He 
was  chaplain  first  of  the  House,  and  afterwards 
of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  was  the 
confidential  friend  of  many  of  the  leading  states- 
men of  the  day.  Until  age  impaired  his  facul- 
ties, the  pulpit  of  the  Second  Church  was  a 
mighty  power  in  Baltimore. 


34  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

DR.  JOHN  BRECKIN^RIDGE. 

In  1825,  when  Dr.  Glendy  Avas  seventy  years 
of  age,  the  church,  at  his  request,  resolved  to  se- 
cure an  assistant  pastor.  Dr.  John  Breckinridge 
was  elected  and  installed  July  10th,  1826.  He 
was  the  second  of  the  four  illustrious  sons  of  the 
Honorable  John  Breckinridge,  one  of  the  first 
United  States  senators  from  Kentucky,  and  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  Attorney-General  of  the 
United  States.  Dr.  Breckinridge  was  born  at 
Cabell's  Dale,  near  Lexington,  Ky.,  4th  of  July, 
1797.  He  was  graduated  at  Princeton  College 
in  1818,  and  at  the  theological  seminary  in  1822. 
He  was  licensed  the  same  year  by  the  Presbytery 
of  New  Brunswick,  Avas  for  a  short  time  chaplain 
of  the  United  States  House  of  Representatives, 
became  pastor  of  the  McCord  Church,  Lexington, 
Ky.,  from  Avhich  he  Avas  called  to  the  Second 
Church. 

Ardent,  enthusiastic  and  eloquent,  with  sym- 
pathies as  Avide  as  the  Avorld,  ahvays  prepared 
on  every  question  concerning  the  good  of  man 
or  the  glory  of  God,  always  fluent  and  eloquent, 
every  good  cause  called  to  him  for  help  and  sel- 
dom called  in  vain.  Unmatched  upon  the  plat- 
form, all  our  great  institutions  then  weak  and 
struggling  into  existence,  looked  to  him  as  their 
champion.  Of  kindred  spirit  Avith  Dr.  Nevins, 
and  laboring  side  by  side  with  him  in  gathering 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  35 

in  the  harvest  of  souls,  his  influence  in  the  com- 
munity was  large  and  commanding.  Few  pas- 
torh  have  ever  been  so  loved  and  the  parting 
with  his  people  was  a  repetition  of  the  scene  at 
Miletus. 

The  condition  of  the  Second  Church  was  de- 
plorable. There  were  no  prayer  meetings,  and 
not  a  single  person  in  the  church  would  lead  in 
prayer;  and  there  was  scarce  a  sign  or  move- 
ment of  spiritual  life.  The  congregation  was 
vexed  by  internal  strifes  and  protracted  con- 
troversies w4th  the  senior  pastor.  Dr.  Breckin- 
ridge labored  unweariedly  to  heal  these  strifes 
and  elevate  the  tone  of  spirituality.  The  Sunday- 
school  was  greatly  enlarged  and  spiritualized. 
He  taught  a  Bible  class  of  some  forty  young  men 
which  furnished  some  of  the  most  useful  and 
well-known  members  and  elders  of  our  Church. 
He  was  a  benediction,  not  to  the  church  alone, 
but  to  the  entire  city. 

DR.    R.    J.    BRECKINRIDGE. 

Worn  out  by  incessant  labors  he  was  succeeded 
by  his  still  more  illustrious  brother,  Dr.  Eobert 
J.  Breckinridge,  who  was  ordained  and  installed 
JS'ovember  26th,  1832.  Dr.  Eobert  Jefferson 
Breckinridge  was  born  at  Cabell's  Dale,  Ivy., 
March  8th,  1800,  was  graduated  at  Union  Col- 
lege, New  York,  in  1819,  and  admitted  to  the  bar 


36  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

in  Lexington  in  1824.  In  1825  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Lower  House  of  the  Kentucky 
legislature  and  was  reelected  for  three  successive 
terms.  In  the  winter  of  1828-9  he  was  con- 
verted and  united  Avith  the  McCord  Church  and 
retired  from,  the  practice  of  the  law  and  from 
public  life.  The  duty  of  entering  the  ministry 
was  pressed  upon  him  by  his  friends,  and  by  his 
conscience,  but  there  were  scruples  and  difficul- 
ties in  the  way.  It  was  not  till  the  great  woods 
meeting  on  his  own  farm,  in  1831,  one  of  those 
large  Pentecostal  meetings  then  so  frequent  in 
the  west,  that  his  difficulties  were  resolved  and 
his  duty  was  made  clear.  He  put  himself  under 
the  care  of  the  West  Lexington  Presbytery,  and 
six  months  after  was  licensed  to  preach.  As  an 
elder  he  was  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  1832,  and  from  the  Assembly  went  to  Prince- 
ton to  prosecute  his  theological  studies,  but  had 
scarcely  entered  the  seminary  till  he  was  called 
to  the  pastorate  of  the  Second  Church. 

Dr.  Breckinridge  was  endowed  as  God  seldom 
endows  a  mortal,  with  the  choicest  gifts  of  na- 
ture and  providence,  strength  of  intellect,  bril- 
liancy of  imagination  and  breadth  of  culture. 
He  was  a  statesman,  a  theologian,  a  lawyer,  a 
preacher,  a  polemic,  an  evangelist,  and  preemi- 
nent in  all.  On  the  very  threshold  of  his  minis- 
try the  burden  of  souls  was  laid  upon  his  heart, 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  37 

and  in  the  winter  of  1833,  he  commenced  a  series 
of  meetings  in  the  Second  Church.  Night  after 
night,  he  preached  with  the  fervor  of  a  AYhitfield 
and  the  Second  Church  rejoiced  in  the  fruitage 
of  a  glorious  revival.  AVith  heart  of  love  and 
tongue  of  flame,  his  call  and  his  anointing  seemed 
to  be  those  of  a  great  evangelist, — an  Edwards, 
a  Davies  or  a  AYhitfield.  But  another  kind  of 
work  awaited  him.  The  church  Avas  trembling 
under  the  first  shock  of  that  earthquake  which 
finally  rent  it  asunder.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  when  all  counsels  were  brought 
to  naught  and  breathless  silence  had  fallen  on 
the  body,  a  young  man  arose  in  a  remote  part  of 
the  house,  pale  with  sickness  and  grasping  the 
pew  before  him  for  support.  He  was  a  young 
lawyer,  well-known  at  the  bar  and  at  the  plat- 
form in  Kentucky,  but  almost  an  entire  stranger  to 
the  Assembly.  Almost  from  the  first  sentence  he 
uttered  the  body  hung  upon  his  lips  and  from  that 
hour  through  all  the  stormy  scenes  that  followed, 
Dr.  Breckinridge  became  a  leader  and  a  cham- 
pion. Preeminently  the  servant  of  the  church, 
he  was  at  the  same  time  the  servant  of  his  gener- 
ation. On  all  the  great  questions  of  the  age,  so- 
cial, educational,  political,  his  trumpet  voice 
sounded  out  loudly  and  commandingly. 

To  the  world  he  is  known  chiefly  as  the  great 
polemic,  a  knight  panoplied  and  plumed,  with 


38  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

lance  ahvays  at  rest,  rushing  to  the  fray  as  to  a 
banquet.  To  those  who  knew  the  man,  he  was 
genial  and  gentle  as  a  child,  the  most  charming 
of  companions,  the  most  loyal  and  loving  of 
friends.  It  was  my  privilege  to  spend  a  winter 
in  his  house  at  his  table.  I  think  no  table  talk 
could  have  excelled  his.  His  knowledge  of  men 
and  things  was  large.  His  wit,  his  pathos,  his 
genial  humor,  his  fund  of  anecdote,  his  intuition 
of  great  truths,  his  marvelous  versatility,  turning 
at  once  from  the  most  abstruse  discussion  to  the 
most  sportive  fancies,  made  an  hour  at  his  table 
the  memory  of  a  lifetime.  Positive  in  his  con- 
victions, imperial  in  his  temper,  impatient  of  all 
tamperings  and  compromising,  always  in  every 
controversy  going  in  for  a  clear  victory  or  a 
clear  defeat.  Few  adversaries  were  more  feared 
and  maligned ;  few  friends  more  trusted  and 
loved.  A  high  church  Presbyterian,  advocating 
some  lines  of  policy  which  have  been  rejected  as 
extreme,  the  Church  he  loved  so  well  if  true  to 
itself,  will  always  enshrine  the  name  of  Dr.  K.  J. 
Breckinridge.  In  1845  Dr.  Breckinridge  was 
elected  president  of  Jefferson  College,  and  having 
expressed  his  desire  to  accept  the  position,  the 
pastoral  relation  was  dissolved.  Dr.  James  H. 
Thornwell  and  D.  M.  Palmer,  both  of  South 
Carolina,  were  both  elected  to  the  vacant 
pastorate,   but    both   declined.      Dr.   Lewis   W. 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  39 

Green,   having    accepted    the    election,  was  in- 
stalled in  February,  1846. 

DR.    LEWIS    W.   GREEN". 

Dr.  Lewis  W.  Green  was  born  in  Boyle  County, 
Ky.,  January  28th,  1806,  was  graduated  at 
Center  College,  completed  his  studies  at  Prince- 
ton in  1832,  was  licensed  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Transylvania,  spent  two  years  as  professor  in 
Center  College  and  two  years  abroad  among  the 
universities  and  libraries  of  Europe,  adding  to  the 
wealth  of  learning  he  had  already  acquired.  On 
his  return  he  was  elected  vice-president  of  Center 
College,  of  which  the  celebrated  Dr.  John  C. 
Young  was  then  president.  Soon  after,  he  was 
chosen  by  the  General  Assembly  to  the  chair  of 
Hebrew  and  Oriental  literature  in  the  Western 
Theological  Seminary.  Dr.  Green  was  eminent 
as  a  scholar  and  educator ;  genial  and  courteous, 
full  of  information  and  anecdote  he  was  a  most 
delightful  companion.  His  sermons  were  elab- 
orate and  ornate,  abounding  in  classical  allusions, 
and  lit  up  by  flashes  of  eloquence. 

Dr.  Green  entered  upon  his  duties  as  pastor  of 
the  Second  Church  with  characteristic  zeal  and 
energy.  But  the  burden  of  pastoral  cares  and 
pastoral  labors  pressed  too  heavily  upon  him. 
His  health  began  to  fail,  and  in  October,  1848,  at 
his  own  request,  the  pastoral  relation  was  dis- 


4:0  EIGIITt   YEARS. 

solved  and  he  accepted  the  position  of  president 
of  Hampton  Sidney  College,  to  which  he  had 
been  elected. 

DR.   JOSEPH   T.    SMITH. 

Dr.  Green  was  succeeded  b}^  Dr.  Joseph  T. 
Smith,  who  was  installed  in  April,  1849.  Dr. 
Smith  was  born  in  Mercer,  Pa.,  pn  the  0th  of 
November,  1818,  was  graduated  at  Jefferson 
College  in  1837,  studied  theology  under  the 
direction  of  the  Kev.  Samuel  Tate,  the  apostle  of 
Northwestern  Pennsylvania,  was  licensed  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Erie  in  1841,  and  ordained  and 
installed  pastor  of  his  native  church  in  Mercer, 
in  April,  1842. 

Born  and  reared  in  Western  Pennsylvania, 
where  almost  the  entire  population  were  Presby- 
terians of  the  straightest  Cameronian  type,  and 
having  little  knowledge  of  any  other  religious 
bodies  save  w^hat  he  read  in  controversial  books, 
he  grew  up  with  a  sort  of  ill-defined  feeling  that 
the  Presbyterian  Church  was  the  Church,  and  all 
outside  of  it  were  but  inheritors  of  uncovenanted 
blessings.  In  this  state  of  mind  he  received  a 
letter  from  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Baltimore,  then  vacant,  saying  that  he  had  been 
recommended  to  them  as  a  pastor  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Johns,  rector  of  an  Episcopal  church  in  Balti- 
more, and  inviting  him  to  visit  them.     He  was 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  41 

surprised  that  such  an  invitation  should  come  to 
him  and  amazed  that  it  should  come  from  an 
Episcopalian.  After  visiting  the  Second  Church, 
and  seeing  its  condition,  the  call  was  declined. 
He  returned  to  Mercer  and  regarded  himself  as 
permanently  settled  there.  Among  the  letters 
received  urging  him  to  reconsider  his  decision 
Avas  one  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Johns,  breathing  in 
every  line  the  spirit  of  brotherly  love.  He  keeps 
that  letter  among  his  most  precious  treasures. 
After  stating  and  urging  at  length  the  reasons 
which  ought  to  induce  him  to  come  to  Baltimore, 
Dr.  Johns  closed  his  letter  in  these  words :  "  You 
may  think  it  strange  that  one  of  another  denom- 
ination of  Christians  should  so  write.  But  while 
I  could  wish  that  you  and  all  my  brethren  were 
even  as  I  am,  yet  I  rejoice  that  in  every  way 
Christ  is  preached  and  souls  brought  home  to 
God."  That  letter,  more  tlian  anything  else, 
induced  Dr.  Smith  to  come  to  Baltimore.  From 
the  day  of  his  arrival  Dr.  Johns  became  one  of 
his  most  intimate  counselors  and  friends,  and 
when  amidst  the  lamentations  of  the  entire  cit}^ 
he  was  carried  to  his  burial  it  was  the  privilege 
of  Dr.  Smith  to  preach  his  funeral  sermon  to  an 
immense  congregation,  composed  of  ministers  and 
members  of  all  denominations  where  for  the  time 
all  their  differences  Avere  lost  in  the  common 
brotherhood   of    Christians.     From   his   associar 


42  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

tions  with  Dr.  Johns  and  afterwards  with  Dr. 
Grammar  and  Dr.  Leakin  and  others  of  kindred 
spirit  his  charity  was  so  enlarged  as  to  admit 
Episcopalians  to  share  the  covenanted  blessings 
with  Presbyterians. 

Dr.  John  M.  Duncan,  an  illustrious  and  vener- 
able man,  was  then  pastor  of  the  Associate  Ke- 
formed  Church  on  Fayette  Street,  one  of  the  larg- 
est and  most  influential  churches  in  the  city. 
He  was  a  great  man  and  a  great  preacher,  of 
largeness  of  heart  like  that  which  God  gave  to 
his  servant  of  old,  but  he  was  accused  of  holding 
erroneous  opinions,  and  had  withdrawn  from  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  Dr.  Smith  regarded  his 
errors  as  touching  such  vital  points  that  the 
thought  of  brotherly  fellowship  with  him  scarcely 
entered  his  mind.  On  his  arrival  in  Baltimore 
Dr.  Duncan  was  one  of  the  first  ministers  of  the 
city  to  call  upon  him.  He  called  again  and 
again,  and  no  father,  could  have  been  more  tender 
and  more  solicitous  for  the  welfare  of  a  son, 
young,  inexperienced  and  unacquainted  with  city 
ways.  The  infirmities  of  age  had  come  upon 
Dr.  Duncan,  and  he  desired  Dr.  Smith  to  become 
his  assistant.  Almost  every  day  for  a  time  he 
came  to  the  study  of  Dr.  Smith,  brought  his 
books  and  his  published  sermons,  explained  and 
defended  his  peculiar  views,  but  assured  the 
Doctor  he  could  preach  to  his  people  without  re- 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  43 

straint  for  they  would  bear  everything  except 
Calvinism.  And  yet  despite  all  his  errors  and 
idiosyncrasies,  whenever  he  passed  from  meta- 
physical speculation  as  to  the  persons  of  the  God- 
head and  their  relations  to  each  other,  and  talked 
of  the  love  of  God,  and  the  grace  of  Christ,  and 
the  fellowship  of  the  Spirit,  none  could  doubt  his 
fellowship  with  Christ. 

Mr.  Thomas  Kelso  was  a  Methodist.  His  wife 
was  a  Presbyterian  and  a  member  of  the  Second 
Church.  Their  hospitable  home  in  East  Balti- 
more was  always  open  and  seldom  without 
guests  chiefly  and  indiscriminately  Presbyterians 
and  Methodists.  Here  Dr.  Smith  was  thrown 
into  fraternal  fellowship  with  many  of  the  emi- 
nent ministers  of  the  time.  Bishop  Waugh,  who 
invited  him  to  join  in  his  ordination  of  ministers, 
the  elders  Edwards,  Slicer,  Sewell,  and  many  an 
honored  name  besides.  Amidst  associations  such 
as  these  his  old  prejudices  gradually  melted  away 
and  he  came  at  last  not  in  word  only,  but  in  deed 
and  in  truth,  to  recognize  all  churches  as  branches 
of  the  one  Church.  During  his  whole  ministry  in 
Baltimore  it  w^as  his  pleasure  to  enjoy  Christian 
fellowship  and  fraternal  intercourse  with  brethren 
of  the  different  churches  around  him. 

When  he  came  to  Baltimore,  there  were  eight 
Presbyterian  churches  in  Baltimore,  the  First, 
Second,  Third,  Fourth,  Fifth,  Aisquith   Street, 


M  EIGHTY   YEAKS. 

Broadway  and  Franklin  Street.  Their  pastors 
were,  Drs.  Backus,  Musgrave,  Purviance,  II am- 
ner,  Dunlap,  Peck,  and  Pluraer.  To  come 
from  his  lonely  country  home,  iijto  such  a  fellow- 
ship as  this  Avas  like  translation  into  another 
world,  of  higher  companionships  and  nobler  in- 
spirations. 

The  condition  of  the  Second  Church  in  1849 
was  in  many  ways  discouraging.  It  had  been 
greatly  reduced  in  numbers  and  resources  and 
vexed  by  internal  dissensions,  its  strength  so 
weakened  in  the  way,  that  the  faint-hearted  be- 
gan to  fear  for  its  very  existence.  The  old 
church  had  become  incommodious  for  present 
needs  and  unattractive  to  present  tastes,  and 
soon  after  the  installation  of  the  new  pastor  the 
question  of  the  renovation  of  the  old  building  or 
the  erection  of  a  new  one  began  to  be  agitated, 
with  the  excitements  and  oppositions  which  any 
proposal  of  the  kind  always  occasions.  Against 
the  open  opposition  of  some,  and  the  half-hearted 
consent  of  others,  and  these  unfortunately  the 
wealthier  members,  it  was  resolved  at  last  to  take 
down  the  old  building  and  erect  a  new  one  on 
the  same  site.  It  was  a  formidable  undertaking 
under  the  existing  conditions,  but  the  trustees  at 
the  time  were  a  noble  company.  The  heart 
throbs  as  we  record  their  names,  for  they  are  all 
now  passed  over  to  the  other  side.     James  Mai- 


EIGHTY   YEAES.  45 

com,  James  McConkey,  Robert  Howard,  Horace 
and  Edwin  Abbott,  AVilliam  Crichton,  Samuel 
Fenby ;  they  devoted  themselves  to  the  enter- 
prise with  rare  wisdom  and  whole-hearted  zeal. 
The  building  was  completed  and  opened  for 
public  worship  in  1852,  the  congregation  mean- 
while worshiping  in  Temperance  Temple  on  Gay 
Street.  During  the  first  three  years  some  sixty 
families  were  added  and  the  continuance  of  the 
church  seemed  assured.  Under  their  own  burden 
while  heaviest,  a  mission  school  was  opened  in 
the  basement  of  a  room  near  the  penitentiary, 
and  largely  through  the  unwearied  exertions  of 
Mr.  B.  F.  Haynes,  a  member  of  the  church,  the 
Breckinridge  Chapel  was  erected. 

The  General  Assembly  of  1860  elected  Dr. 
Smith  professor  of  ecclesiastical  history  and 
church  government  in  the  Danville  Theological 
Seminary,  into  which  two  former  Baltimore 
pastors  had  already  gone,  Drs.  K.  J.  Breckinridge 
and  Stuart  Kobinson,  and  the  pastoral  relation 
was  dissolved  in  1860. 

DR.  GEORGE   P.  HAYES. 

Dr.  George  Price  Hayes  was  installed  sixth 
pastor  in  March,  1861.  Dr.  Hayes  was  the 
fourth  son  of  John  Hayes,  and  Orpha  Hayes, 
and  was  born  near  Canonsburg,  Pa.,  February 
2d,  1838,  was   graduated   at   Jefferson   College, 


46  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

studied  theology  in  the  Western  Theological 
Seminary,  was  licensed  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Pittsburg,  in  April,  1859,  and  became  assistant 
pastor  with  Dr.  Painter,  in  Kittanning,  Pa.  Dr. 
Hayes  came  to  the  Second  Church  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  troublous  times  of  the  Civil  War. 
Though  strong  in  his  convictions  and  faithful  to 
his  convictions,  he  bore  himself  so  wisely  and 
charitably  to  all  of  contrary  opinions  that  the 
church  came  through  the  storm,  not  indeed 
without  injury,  but  without  wreck.  The  church 
not  only  survived,  but  a  brighter  day  began  to 
dawn  upon  it.  In  the  fall  of  1868,  Dr.  Hayes 
accepted  the  position  of  the  financial  secretary  of 
Wooster  University,  and  the  pastoral  relation 
was  dissolved. 

DR.  JONATHAN  EDWARDS. 

Dr.  Hayes  Avas  succeeded  by  Dr.  Jonathan 
Edwards.  Dr.  Edwards  was  eminent  as  a 
scholar,  a  theologian,  an  educator  and  college 
president.  Soon  after  his  settlement  difficulties 
and  embarrassments  arose  with  which  he  felt 
himself  unwilling  to  contend,  and  after  a  short 
time  when  the  brethren  had  scarcely  come  to 
know  him,  and  the  church  had  scarcely  begun  to 
feel  his  influence,  the  pastoral  relation  was  dis- 
solved. 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  47 

DR.    ROBERT  H.  FULTO]^. 

Dr.  Edwards  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Robert  H. 
Fulton  Avho  was  installed  in  1872.  He  was  born 
in  Monongahela  City,  Pa.,  was  graduated  with 
honor  in  the  first  class  of  the  united  colleges  of 
Washington  and  Jefferson  in  1866,  studied 
theology  in  the  Western  Seminary  and  was 
licensed  in  1871.  Dr.  Fulton  Avas  an  instructive 
preacher,  faithful  and  laborious  in  all  depart- 
ments of  pastoral  duty.  He  was  eminent  as  a 
presbyter,  and  a  most  valued  member  of  all 
church  courts.  Under  his  faithful  ministry  the 
church  was  greatly  strengthened  and  blessed. 
In  May,  1883,  having  accepted  a  call  to  the 
Northminster  Church  in  Philadelphia,  his  pas- 
toral relation  was  dissolved. 

DR.    ALEXANDER  PROUDFIT. 

Dr.  Fulton  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Alexander 
Proudfit.  He  was  born  in  New  York  City, 
April  16th,  1839,  was  graduated  at  Rutgers  Col- 
lege, 1859,  studied  theology  in  New  Brunswick 
and  Princeton  Seminaries,  and  was  ordained  an 
evangelist  by  the  Presbytery  of  Ncav  York.  He 
was  pastor  of  the  church  in  Clayton,  and  after- 
wards in  Hackensack,  N.  J.,  whence  he  was  called 
to  the  Second  Church. 

Dr.  Proudfit  was  abundant  and  indefatigable 
in  labors,  and  gave  himself  largely  to  furthering 


48  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

the  interests  of  the  multiplied  societies  and  insti- 
tutes which  he  thought  helpful  to  the  church. 
He  introduced  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society, 
and  was  earnest  in  advocating  its  claims.  He 
possessed  rare  administrative  gifts  and  was  ever 
devising  something  for  the  suppression  of  im- 
moralities, and  the  advancement  of  righteousness 
and  peace.  He  was  in  many  ways  a  benefactor 
to  the  church  and  to  the  city.  Having  accepted 
a  call  to  a  church  in  Ohio,  the  pastoral  relation 
was  dissolved. 

REV.    ROBERT   HOWARD   TAYLOR. 

Dr.  Proudfit  was  succeeded  by  the  Kev.  Eob- 
ert  Howard  Taylor,  the  present  pastor.  He  is  a 
native  of  Philadelphia,  educated  at  Princeton, 
and  came  directly  from  the  seminary  to  the 
church.  He  is  a  young  man,  ardent  in  zeal, 
abundant  in  labors,  and  the  church  is  blessed  un- 
der his  ministr3\  The  church  building  has  been 
renovated,  the  old  parsonage  on  the  corner  of 
Watson  Street,  was  taken  down  and  a  large 
building  erected  in  its  place  containing  a  lecture 
room,  Sunday-school  room,  ladies'  parlor,  Bible- 
class  room,  and  all  needful  appliances  for  carry- 
ing on  an  enlarged  work.  The  Sunday-school  is 
large  and  flourishing,  and  is  indeed  the  nursery 
of  the  church. 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  49 

The  present  officers  are:  Pastor,  Eev.  R. 
Howard  Taylor ;  elders,  Robert.  H.  Smith,  John 
Abercrombie,  John  McKenzie,  Robert  J.  Kane, 
Harry  G.  Evans,  Frank  R.  Haynes. 

THIRD  CHURCH. 

In  1823,  t^yenty  years  after  the  founding  of 
the  Second  Church  the  Third  Church  was  organ- 
ized. It  grew  out  of  the  mission  established  near 
Crook's  factory.  It  was  feeble  from  the  begin- 
ning and  had  a  long  struggle  for  existence.  A 
small  and  incommodious  building  was  finally 
erected  on  North  Eutaw  Street. 

DR.    GEORGE   W.  MITSGRAVE. 

Dr.  George  W.  Musgrave  was  installed  pastor 
in  July,  1830, 

Dr.  Musgrave  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  Oc- 
tober 19th,  1801:.  He  was  educated  at  the  Clas- 
sical Academy  of  the  Rev.  S.  B.  AViley,  studied 
theology  at  Princeton,  was  licensed  by  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Baltimore  in  1828,  and  was  ordained 
and  installed  in  July,  1830. 

He  was  a  laborious  student  and  a  most  in- 
structive preacher.  He  told  me  on  one  occasion 
that  it  was  his  custom  at  the  beginning  of  the 
year  to  go  through  his  Bible  and  mark  the  texts 
on  which  he  w^ould  preach  through  the  year,  ar- 
ranging them  with  reference  to  times,  and  espe- 


50  EIGHTY   YEAES. 

cially  sacramental  seasons.  Every  day  he  would 
write  a  brief  analysis  and  exposition  of  one  of 
these  texts,  then  he  would  select  one  of  these 
and  expand  it  into  a  weekly  lecture.  This  in 
turn  he  would  draw  out  into  a  sermon.  Every 
week  he  wrote  at  least  one  sermon  whether  he 
preached  it  or  not,  and  at  the  time  of  our  con- 
versation he  said  he  had  a  large  number  of  ser- 
mons he  had  never  preached.  His  presence  was 
commanding,  and  this,  with  his  sonorous  voice, 
would  compel  the  attention  of  any  assembly. 
He  was  a  great  debater  and  a  controversialist, 
by  taste  as  well  as  conviction.  He  took  an  ac- 
tive and  influential  part  in  all  the  exciting  con- 
troversies of  his  time.  Few  cared  to  meet  him 
in  the  arena  and  the  debates  between  him  and 
Dr.  K.  Breckinridge,  well  matched  antagonists, 
in  the  Presbytery  of  Baltimore  Avere  intellectual 
feasts  to  those  who  heard  them.  Having  been 
elected  secretary  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Publication  in  1852,  the  pastoral  relation  was 
dissolved. 

DR.   THEODIC   PRIOR, 

An  eminent  minister  of  Yirginia,  was  the  suc- 
cessor of  Dr.  Musgrave.  His  ministry  scarcely 
lasted  a  year  when  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  return 
to  Yirginia  and  the  pastoral  relation  was  dis- 
solved. 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  51 

KEY.    GEIFFITH   0WET5". 

Dr.  Prior  was  succeeded  by  the  Eev.  GrifRth 
Owen  who  served  the  church  from  1855  to  1860. 
A  native  of  Wales,  he  was  graduated  in  Jeffer- 
son College  in  1836,  studied  theology  at  Prince- 
ton, became  pastor  of  a  church  in  Philadelphia, 
and  afterwards  in  Uniontown,  Pa.  He  Avas 
widely  known  and  respected  in  Baltimore  for  his 
warm  heart,  his  arduous  labors  and  his  supreme 
devotion.  After  years  of  struggling  the  church 
was  finally  dissolved  and  its  remaining  members 
attached  to  the  Central  Church  in  1862. 

FOURTH  CHURCH. 
The  Fourth  Church  was  located  on  West  Balti- 
more Street,  near  Fremont,  in  1839.     It  was  a 
small,  brick  building  and  the  church  was  feeble 
from  the  beginning. 

REV.    GEORGE   DUGAN    PURVIANCE. 

The  Rev.  George  Dugan  Purviance  was  or- 
dained and  installed  as  the  first  pastor  by  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Baltimore  in  1839.  He  was  the  son 
of  the  eminent  Judge  Purviance  and  the  brother 
of  Miss  Margaret  Purviance.  He  was  graduated 
at  St.  Mary's  College  at  Baltimore  and  had  his 
theological  training  at  Princeton.  He  preached 
the  gospel  in  its  simplicity  and  power,  and  was 
beloved  by  his  brethren  and  by  all  who  knew 


52  EIGHTY  YEARS. 

him.     He  served  the  church  with  zeal  and  fidel- 
ity till  feeble  health  required  his  resignation  in 

1855. 

DR.    JACOB   AMOS    LEFEVER. 

Dr.  Lefever  succeeded  Mr.  Purviance  in  1856. 
He  is  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  was  graduated 
in  Pennsylvania  College  in  1851  and  was  or- 
dained by  the  Presbytery  of  Baltimore,  October 
26th,  1856.  He  is  with  us  till  this  day,  vigorous 
in  mind,  and  preaching  with  his  old  poAver.  He 
is  a  student  and  a  theologian,  positive  in  his 
convictions,  but  genial  and  loving  in  his  spirit. 
Under  Dr.  Lefever  a  new  church  building  was 
erected  on  Franklin  Square  and  the  church  is 
now  in  connection  with  the  Southern  General 
Assembly.  He  was  succeeded  by  the  present 
pastor,  Kev.  Mr.  Woods. 

FIFTH  CHURCH. 

In  1835  the  Rev.  Dr.  James  G.  Hamner,  of 
Yirginia,  who  had  been  for  some  years  pastor  of 
the  church  in  Frederick,  Md.,  removed  to  Balti- 
more, procured  a  room  at  the  corner  of  Camden 
and  Hanover  Streets  and  gathered  a  congrega- 
tion of  earnest  fellow-laborers.  A  church  build- 
ing, largely  through  the  liberality  of  Dr.  Hamner 
himself,  was  erected  on  Hanover  Street.  The 
Fifth  Church  was  organized  and  Dr.  Hamner  be- 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  53 

came  its  first  pastor.  He  was  an  earnest,  evan- 
gelical preacher  with  a  passion  for  souls.  Nu- 
merous revivals,  with  large  ingatherings  occurred 
frequently  during  his  ministry.  At  the  close  of 
his  pastorate  the  church  was  served  for  a  time 
by  the  Eev.  R.  S.  Hitchcock.  It  was  dissolved 
in  1862  and  its  remaining  members  were  attached 
to  the  Central  Church. 

CONSTITUTIONAL  CHUECH. 

In  the  controversies  which  arose  at  the  time, 
the  sympathies  of  a  large  number  in  the  Fifth 
Church  were  with  the  New  School  party.  These 
withdrew  and  organized  the  Constitutional 
Church  in  connection  with  the  New  School  As- 
sembly. They  erected  a  large  and  commodious 
building  on  South  Green  Street  and  called  the 
Eev.  Dr.  Dunning  as  their  pastor.  Under  his 
able  ministry  the  church  flourished  for  a  time,  and 
after  his  dismissal  it  was  served  by  the  Eev.  Mr. 
Noyes.  On  the  reunion  of  the  New  and  Old 
Schools,  the  Constitutional  Church  was  dissolved 
and  members  attached  to  Lafayette  Square 
Church. 

AISQUITH  STEEET  CHUECH. 

In  1842  the  spirit  of  church  extension  had 
fallen  upon  the  First  and  Second  Churches  and 
its  first  fruits  appeared  in  Aisquith  Street.     In 


54  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

N^ovember,  1842,  at  a  joint  meeting  of  the  First 
and  Second  Churches,  the  field  Avas  carefully  sur- 
veyed and  it  was  determined  to  erect  a  new 
church  east  of  the  Falls.  A  lot  Avas  secured  on 
Aisquith  street  near  Monument,  subscriptions 
were  opened,  and  the  building  was  completed  in 
1844.  In  1880  the  old  building  was  exchanged 
for  the  German  Keformed  Church  lower  down  the 
street.  The  Aisquith  Street  Presbyterian  Church 
was  organized  January  9th,  1844,  with  forty-seven 
members,  mostly  members  of  the  First  and  Sec- 
ond Churches  residing  in  the  vicinity.  The  first 
elders  were  Isaac  Johnson,  James  Logan,  Moses 
Hyde  and  John  Faulkner.  The  first  deacons, 
Francis  Davidson,  Alexander  Hamill  and  David 
Whitmarsh. 

EEV.    ROBERT   W.    DUNLAP. 

Eev.  Eobert  W.  Dunlap  was  installed  pastor 
October  10th,  1844.  He  was  born  in  South  Car- 
olina, August  14th,  1817,  educated  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  North  Carolina  and  ordained  an  evangel- 
ist by  the  Presbytery  of  Georgia,  in  1838.  He 
supplied  for  a  time  the  church  in  St.  Augustine, 
Fla.,  and  was  pastor  of  a  church  in  Columbia, 
Pa.,  from  1841  to  1844.  He  was  an  earnest 
preacher  and  a  successful  pastor  and  laid  well 
the  foundations  of  the  new  church,  but  unhappy 
differences  arose  in  the  congregation,  and  after 


EIGHTY   YEAES.  55 

struggling  with  these  for  a  time  the  pastoral  re- 
lation was  at  his  request  dissolved  in  June,  1850. 
We  can  do  little  more  than  mention  the  names 
of  those  who  followed  in  long  succession.  All 
of  them  were  known  to  me  personally,  and  as  I 
write  their  names,  and  as  others  read  them,  how 
many  tender  and  sacred  memories  are  revived ! 
The  Kev.  Thomas  Warren  was  pastor  from  De- 
cember, 1851,  to  June,  1853.  The  Kev.  David 
T.  Carnahan  from  May,  1854,  to  October,  18G1. 
Dr.  Hamner  served  the  church  for  some  time  as 
a  stated  supply,  and  through  his  exertion,  and 
largely  by  his  gifts,  the  ground  rent  of  the  prop- 
erty was  purchased.  The  Kev.  J.  S.  Stuchell 
was  pastor  from  November,  1862,  till  February, 
1867.  The  Kev.  James  Kamsay  from  July,  1867, 
to  December,  1871.  The  Kev.  James  A.  Lapsley 
was  called,  and  was  waiting  for  the  appointed 
day  of  installation  Avhen  he  died  suddenly.  The 
Kev.  J.  S.  I^oyes  Avas  pastor  from  May,  1873,  to 
June,  1879.  The  Kev.  George  D.  Buchanan  from 
November,  1879,  to  1882.  The  Kev.  Silas  Daven- 
port from  October,  1883,  to  October,  1888.  The 
present  pastor  is  the  Kev.  Dr.  J.  Addison  Smith, 
who  was  installed  February  18th,  1889.  The 
church  has  suffered  greatly  from  death  under  his 
ministry.  Six  of  his  elders  he  has  followed  to 
the  tomb.  But  with  his  large  heart  and  tireless 
energy  and  effective  preaching,  beloved  by  his 


66  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

brethren  and  honored  by  his  church,  Aisquith 
Street  stands  fast  in  its  lot.  The  present  officers 
are ;  Rev.  J.  Addison  Smith,  D.  D.,  pastor ;  el- 
ders, Robert  Kinnear  and  David  W.  Glass. 

BROADWAY  CHURCH. 
After  the  erection  of  Aisquith  Street  Church  it 
was  felt  that  there  was  urgent  need  of  a  church 
lower  down  on  Fell's  Point.  The  members  of 
the  Second  Church  took  special  interest  in  the 
enterprise,  and  to  further  it,  in  1843,  the  Evan- 
gelical Association,  composed  of  the  active  young 
men  of  the  church,  A.  B.  Cross,  T.  E.  Baird  and 
others,  was  formed.  A  lot  was  procured  on  the 
comer  of  Broadway  and  Gough  Streets  and  the 
building  was  completed  and  opened  for  public 
worship  in  January,  1846.  The  church  was  or- 
ganized in  March,  1846,  Avith  seventeen  members, 
and  a  congregation  Avas  incorporated  at  the  same 
time.  The  following  thirteen  persons  Avere  the 
original  trustees:  W.  H.  Conkling,  George  A. 
Yon  Spreckleson,  Robert  D.  Fenby,  R.  D.  Mil- 
holland,  William  Gardner,  Charles  Hargesheimer, 
Robert  Hutson,  James  Slater,  John  A.  Robb, 
Robert  Ulier,  John  C.  Ely,  Peter  Fenby  and 
E.  J.  Robb. 

REV.  THOMAS  E.  PECK. 

Rev.  Thomas  E.  Peck  Avas  installed  the  first 
pastor  June  lYth,  1846.     Dr.  Peck  Avas  born  and 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  57 

educated  in  Columbia,  S.  C,  and  licensed  to 
preach  by  the  Presbytery  of  Charleston.  lie 
Avas  a  'high  church  Presbyterian  of  the  Thorn- 
well  type.  He  was  a  profound  theologian,  gave 
attendance  to  reading,  and  was  well  instructed 
in  the  hard  points  of  theology  and  the  five  points 
of  Calvinism.  His  discourses  were  log-ical,  un- 
impassioned,  addressed  to  the  understanding  of 
his  hearers,  and  Avere  masterpieces  of  systematic 
teaching.  He  had  little  sympathy  with  many 
of  the  popular  movements  of  the  times,  stood  al- 
together aloof  from  voluntary  societies  of  every 
name,  and  looked  with  suspicion  even  upon  Sun- 
day-schools as  generally  conducted.  Under  such 
a  pastorate  the  foundations  of  the  church  Avere 
laid,  if  not  broad,  yet  deep  and  strong.  In  1858 
Dr.  Peck  having  signified  his  desire  to  accept  a 
call  to  the  Central  Church  the  pastoral  relation 
was  dissolved. 

REV.    F.    W.   BRAUNS. 

Dr.  Peck  Avas  succeeded  by  the  Eev.  Frederick 
W.  Brauns,  Avho  was  installed  April  21st,  1859. 
He  Avas  a  native  of  Baltimore,  acquired  his 
classical  and  theological  education  at  the  Luth- 
eran institution  at  Gettysburg,  Pa.,  Avas  licensed 
by  the  Lutheran  Synod  of  Maryland,  in  October, 
1850,  and  united  Avith  the  Presbytery  of  Balti- 
more in  1858.     He  Avas  a  fine  scholar,  an  earnest 


58  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

and  instructive  preacher,  and  a  devoted  pastor, 
but  his  health  was  feeble  and  the  condition  of  the 
congregation  exacted  more  labor  than  he  was 
able  to  bestow.  At  his  own  request  the  pastoral 
relation  was  dissolved  February,  1861.  Then 
followed  a  long  vacancy,  during  which  the 
church  was  on  the  verge  of  extinction,  its  total 
income  being  reduced  to  $250.  It  Avas  sup- 
plied from  time  to  time  by  the  Eev.  H.  L. 
Singleton,  Rev.  William  H.  Cook,  Dr.  J.  G. 
Ilamner,  and  others.  Dr.  Hamner  served  the 
church  for  about  two  years.  His  services  were 
altogether  gratuitous.  All  that  the  congregation 
could  raise  with  large  contributions  from  him- 
self were  given  to  the  payment  of  debts.  Dr. 
Hamner  was  such  a  friend,  not  to  Broadway 
alone,  but  to  many  a  weak  and  struggling  church 
besides.  In  1866,  the  Presbytery  of  Baltimore 
pledged  itself  for  a  salary  of  $1,000,  the  congre- 
gation raising  what  they  could. 

EEV.   J.   J.    COALE. 

Under  this  action  of  the  Presbytery  the  Rev.  J. 
J.  Coale,  who  was  graduated  at  Princeton  Semi- 
nary, was  ordained  and  installed  the  third  pastor 
April  11th,  1867.  Under  his  able  ministry  the 
congregation  began  at  once  to  flourish,  the  mem- 
bership was  largely  increased,  the  building  reno- 


EIGHTY   YEAES.  59 

vated,  and  in  a  little  time  they  were  able  to  raise 
the  pastor's  salary  themselves.  In  March,  1870, 
owing  to  continued  ill  health,  Mr.  Coale  asked 
for  a  dismissal,  and  against  the  earnest  protest 
of  the  representatives  of  the  congregation,  Mr. 
Alexander  McClymont  and  S.  M.  Johnson,  the 
request  was  granted  and  the  pastoral  relation 
dissolved. 

REV.   JOHN   McCOY. 

The  Kev.  John  McCoy,  a  graduate  of  Jeffer- 
son and  a  student  of  Princeton,  was  installed 
fourth  pastor  January  22d,  1871.  He  served  the 
church  faithfully  until  December,  1872,  when, 
at  his  own  request  the  pastoral  relation  was 
dissolved. 

REV.   JOHN  L.    FULTON. 

In  April,  1873,  the  Eev.  John  L.  Fulton  was 
installed  the  fifth  pastor.  He  received  his  clas- 
sical and  theological  education  in  Monmouth,  111. 
Under  his  pastorate  the  church  reached  the  high- 
est degree  of  prosperity  it  had  yet  attained. 
The  pastor's  salary  was  raised  to  $1,600.  The 
church  was  renovated  and  a  parsonage  bought, 
largely  by  members  of  the  First  Church.  In 
1876,  he  was  dismissed  to  accept  a  call  from  the 
Central  Church  of  Allegheny. 


60  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

DR.    GEORGE   E.    JONES. 

The  Eev.  George  E.  Jones,  D.  D.,  Avas  installed 
November  Ytli,  1877.  He  was  a  graduate  of 
Lafayette  College  and  of  Princeton  Seminary. 
He  Avas  licensed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Lehigh  in 
April,  1872,  and  Avas  for  a  time  pastor  of  the 
Lower  Brandy  wine  Church,  Del.  Under  the 
pastorate  of  Dr.  Jones  the  church  continued  to 
prosper  and  its  financial  condition  Avas  greatly 
improved.  The  pastor's  salary  of  $1,600  Avas 
raised  partly  by  the  board  and  partly  by  other 
churches  of  the  city.  In  1880  Dr.  Jones  offered 
to  release  $300  of  his  salary  on  condition  that  the 
congregation  would  themselves  raise  the  remain- 
ing $1,100.  The  offer  Avas  accepted  and  the  church 
became  self-supporting.  After  protracted  debates 
and  negotiations  it  Avas  determined  to  sell  the 
property  and  rebuild  on  a  lot  on  East  Baltimore 
Street,  near  the  intersection  of  BroadAvay.  The 
corner  stone  Avas  laid  August  1st,  1887,  and  the 
church  Avas  completed  and  occupied  the  folloAving 
year.  Dr.  Jones  Avas  a  man  of  affairs  and  an  in- 
defatigable laborer,  and  not  in  his  OAvn  church 
alone.  For  many  years  he  Avas  stated  clerk  of  the 
presbytery  of  Baltimore,  and,  especially  after  his 
retirement,  the  care  of  all  the  churches  fell  largely 
on  him.  Owing  to  failing  health  Dr.  Jones  Avas 
compelled  to  ask  for  a  dismissal  and  the  pastoral 
relation  Avas  dissolved  in  December,  1893. 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  61 

EEV.    W.   J.    ROWAN. 

Dr.  Jones  was  succeeded  by  the  Kev.  William 
J.  Kowan,  who  was  ordained  and  installed  June 
17th,  1894.  He  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  Avas 
graduated  at  Lafayette  College  and  studied 
theology  in  Princeton.  Broadway  was  his  first 
charge,  and  under  his  energetic  ministry  the 
church  is  not  only  holding  on  its  way  but  reach- 
ing out  for  larger  things. 

The  present  officers  of  the  church  are :  Eev. 
William  J.  Kowan,  pastor;  elders,  Frank  C. 
Loflin,  William  S.  Faust  and  Joseph  M.  Hume; 
deacons,  James  P.  Clark,  Alexander  McKenzie, 
Thomas  Moore  and  William  W.  Tuckey ;  trus- 
tees, William  C.  Orr,  James  P.  Clark,  William 
A.  Johnson,  K.  W.  Mansfield,  M.  D.,  and  William 
S.  Faust. 

The  following  is  the  statistical  report  for  the 
church  for  1898 : 

Communicants,  135  ;  Sunday-school  members, 
174.  Contributions,  Home  Missions,  $94.00  ;  For- 
eign Missions,  $121.00  ;  Education,  $5.00 ;  Sunda}^- 
schoolWork,  $17.00;  Kelief  Fund,  $4.00;  Freed- 
men,  $3.00 ;  Synodical  Aid,  $11.00 ;  Aid  for  Col- 
leges, $2.00  ;  General  Assembly,  $12.00  ;  Congre- 
gational, $1,779.00,  and  Miscellaneous,  $18.00. 

FEANKLIN  STEEET  CHUECH. 
The  need  of  a  church  on  the  western  side  of 


62  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

the  city  to  which  population  was  rapidly  tending 
was  urgently  felt.  After  careful  survey  of  the 
field  it  was  resolved  to  build  on  the  corner  of 
Franklin  and  Cathedral  Streets.  Dr.  Backus 
with  a  large  committee  from  the  First  Church 
engaged  zealously  in  the  enterprise,  and  a  beauti- 
ful Gothic  structure  in  which  the  congregation 
still  worships,  was  completed  and  occupied.  A 
large  colony  went  out  from  the  First  Church  and 
Franklin  Street  was  strong  from  the  beginning. 

DR.  WILLIAM  S.  PLUMER. 

Dr.  William  Swann  Plumer  was  installed  first 
pastor,  April  28th,  1847.  Dr.  Plumer  was  born 
in  Darlington,  Beaver  County,  Pa.,  July  26th, 
1802.  He  was  graduated  at  AYashington  Col- 
lege, Yirginia,  studied  theology  at  Princeton,  and 
was  ordained  an  evangelist  in  Orange  in  1827. 
For  nearly  three  years  following  he  was  engaged 
as  an  evangelist  in  Southern  Yirginia  and  Korth 
Carolina.  He  became  pastor  successively  of  the 
church  in  Briery,  Ya.,  Tabb  Street  Church, 
Petersburg,  and  the  First  Church  of  Eichmond. 

Dr.  Plumer  was  a  marked  man  and  filled  a 
large  space  in  the  eyes  of  his  generation.  His 
appearance  was  most  commanding.  Upright, 
symmetrical  and  tall  of  stature,  Avith  an  Aaronic 
beard  carefully  tended  and  flowing  far  down  on 
his  breast;  eyes  that  alternately  sparkled  and 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  63 

burned  ;  a  voice  sonorous  and  of  marvelous  com- 
pass, sometimes  thundering  like  Niagara,  some- 
times whispering  like  the  zephyr,  sometimes 
screaming  like  the  eagle  when  he  soars  toward 
the  sun,  sometimes  cooing  like  the  dove  when 
she  stoops  and  flutters  over  her  nest.  He  was 
often  abrupt  in  manner  and  quaint  in  speech,  im- 
petuous when  wrongfully  or  wrathfully  opposed, 
but  gentle  and  yielding  as  a  child  to  the  reproofs 
and  persuasions  of  his  friends.  He  was  a  great 
preacher  in  his  happy  moods,  a  great  presbyter, 
a  great  debater,  but,  above  all,  he  was  a  man  of 
God. 

He  walked  with  God  and  the  secret  of  the 
Lord  was  with  him.  There  was  not  a  phase  of 
Christidin  experience  through  which  he  had  not 
passed  nor  a  question  of  casuistry  which  he  had 
not  debated  if  not  solved  in  his  own  soul.  The 
condition  of  sinners  as  under  the  curse  and  con- 
demnation of  God's  law,  conviction  of  sin,  by  the 
in  working  of  the  Diyine  Spirit,  regeneration  and 
conversion  in  their  differences,  their  varieties, 
and  their  evidences,  growth  in  grace  and  meet- 
ness  for  heaven, — these  were  the  themes  on 
which  he  delighted  to  talk  and  to  preach.  Dr. 
A.  Alexander,  himself,  did  not  excel  him  in 
searching  the  inmost  heart  of  his  hearers  and 
discriminating  a  true  Christian  experience  from 
the  false. 


64  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

On  raj  coming  to  Baltimore  Dr.  Plumer  became 
my  pastor.  In  all  the  perplexities  of  Christian 
life  and  pastoral  work  I  turned  to  him  for  coun- 
sel and  guidance,  and  never  surely  was  spiritual 
guide  more  sympathetic  or  more  wise.  On  one 
occasion,  when  something  in  the  Second  Church 
troubled  me,  and  I  began  to  think  of  leaving,  I 
went  to  his  study  and  told  him  the  story.  He 
listened  patiently  and  when  I  w^as  done,  took  up 
the  Bible  from  his  table  and  turned  to  that  ex- 
quisite passage  in  Deuteronomy,  "As  an  eagle 
stirreth  up  her  nest,  etc."  He  read  the  entire  pas- 
sage, expounded  it  at  length,  in  his  peculiar  way, 
said  not  a  word  about  my  trouble,  but  left  me  to 
infer  that  sometimes  w^hen  our  nest  is  too  soft 
the  Lord  stirs  it  to  compel  our  upward  flight,  and 
I  would  better  learn  the  lesson  and  stay  where 
I  was.  At  another  time  when  I  told  him  of 
some  spiritual  trouble,  he  listened  and  without 
alluding  to  it  in  any  w^ay  said,  "  For  da3^s  past  I 
have  been  afraid  to  go  out  in  the  street  lest  I 
should  be  left  to  fall  into  some  open  sin,"  then 
went  on  to  speak  of  his  sore  spiritual  conflicts, 
"  fightings  w^ithout  and  fears  within,"  and  left  me 
to  infer,  ^^  the  same  afilictions  are  accomplished 
in  your  brethren  and  are  a  necessary  part  of 
your  discipline  for  heaven."  One  da}^  I  met  him 
on  the  street  and  abruptly,  without  salutation, 
he  said,  "  Brother  Smith,  can  you  preach  on  the 


EIGHTY    YEARS.  65 

love  of  Christ  ?  I  have  often  tried  to  do  it,  I 
am  trying  to  prepare  for  it  now,  but  with  this 
wretched  heart  of  mine,  how  can  I  ?  "  and  then 
with  tears  in  his  eyes  turned  abruptly  away. 

A  faithful  pastor,  Dr.  Plumer  made  time  to 
devote  to  other  departments  of  work.  He  had 
almost  a  passion  for  writing  short  tracts,  some- 
times little  leaflets  of  two  or  three  pages.  Show- 
ing me  the  manuscript  of  one  of  these,  I  said  to 
him, "  Why  do  you  devote  so  much  time  to  fugitive 
pieces  like  this  ?  why  not  write  a  book  ?  "  After 
talking  of  the  matter  for  some  time  he  said  he 
would  write  a  book,  and  commenced  at  once  to 
write  the  Grace  of  Christ,  the  first  of  the  many 
books  he  published.  When  the  manuscript  was 
finished  he  sent  it  to  me  with  the  message :  "  Ee- 
m ember,  I  want  you  to  be  perfectly  candid  in 
your  criticism."  After  reading  it  carefully,  I 
said :  "  Doctor,  there  is  one  peculiarity  which 
strikes  me  unpleasantly.  Your  sentences  seem 
to  be  detached  and  largely  independent  of  each 
other,  and  do  not  move  on  together  toward  a 
common  goal."  He  thought  for  a  while  and 
said,  "When  I  sit  down  to  write,  while,  of 
course,  the  general  subject  is  before  my  mind,  I 
write  down  one  sentence,  and  that  suggests  an- 
other, and  that  still  another,  and  so  I  go  on  to 
the  end."  There  was  one  beautiful  passage 
which  addressed  itself  both  to  the  imagination 


bb  EIGHTY   YEAKS. 

and  to  the  heart.  I  turned  to  it  and  said,  "  That 
is  an  exquisite  passage."  He  replied :  "  Why,  I 
was  just  thinking  of  striking  that  out.  You  know 
I  have  little  imagination,"  or  as  he  put  it,  "I 
cannot  say  pretty  things  as  others  do,  and  to 
give  the  necessary  variety,  I  am  obliged  to  resort 
to  quotations."  All  his  readers  know  how  his 
books  abound  in  quotations. 

I  bless  God  that  I  was  permitted  to  know  and 
worthy  to  love  two  such  men  as  Dr.  Plumer 
and  Dr.  Backus.  I  bless  God  for  the  years 
during  which  it  was  my  privilege  to  enjoy 
their  companionship  and  counsels.  Dr.  Backus 
was  a  brother  with  the  warm  and  tender  sympa- 
thies of  a  brother's  heart,  with  Avhom  you  could 
talk  and  take  counsel  without  awe  or  restraint. 
Dr.  Plumer  was  a  father,  affectionate  and  kind, 
but  there  was  a  something  about  him  which  al- 
ways inspired  awe.  With  him  I  always  felt  as 
if  in  the  presence  of  a  superior  being,  whose 
words  of  wisdom  and  counsel  were  as  oracles. 

Under  the  pastorate  of  Dr.  Plumer  the  foun- 
dations of  Franklin  Street  were  securely  laid. 
The  church  grew  in  numbers  and  in  influence 
and  ever  since  has  maintained  its  position  as  one 
of  our  strongest  churches.  When  in  the  semi- 
nary at  Princeton,  Dr.  Alexander  said  to  him 
that  he  ought  to  prepare  himself  to  be  a  theolog- 
ical professor  and  these  words  influenced  his  en- 


EIGHTY    YEARS.  67 

tire  ministry.  In  the  preparation  of  sermons  he 
had  the  professorship  in  view,  and  while  in  Bal- 
timore wrote  out  almost  a  complete  course  of 
lectures  on  didactic  theology.  When  elected 
professor  in  Western  Theological  Seminary  in 
1854,  on  his  expressed  desire  to  accept  it,  the 
pastoral  relation  was  dissolved. 

Dr.  Plumer  was  succeeded  by  the  Eev.  N.  C. 
Burt  of  Ohio,  who  remained  but  a  short  time, 
and  he,  by  the  Kev.  J.  J.  Bullock,  of  Kentucky, 
Avho  was  pastor  during  the  troublous  times  of  the 
Civil  War.  In  1870,  he  was  succeeded  by  the 
Eev.  Dr.  William  U.  Mulrkland. 


REV.  DR.  WILLIAM  U.  MUIRKLAND. 

Dr.  William  U.  Mulrkland  was  born  in  British 
Guiana,  was  graduated  at  Hampden  Sydney, 
studied  theology  at  Union  Theological  Seminary, 
Virginia,  and  was  ordained  at  Charlottesville, 
Va.,  in  April,  1869.  He  has  served  the  Franklin 
Street  Church  since  1870,  and  though  suffering 
from  the  attacks  of  an  insidious  disease,  still 
stands  in  his  lot  and  ministers  to  the  people  he 
has  loved  and  served  so  well.  He  is  an  eloquent 
preacher,  a  devoted  pastor,  and  many  rise  up 
around  him  to  call  him  blessed.  Franklin  Street 
Church  is  now  in  connection  with  the  Southern 
Assembly. 


68  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

WESTMINSTER  CHUECII. 
Westminster  Church,  on  the  corner  of  Green 
and  Fayette  Streets,  stands  in  the  midst  of  God's 
acre,  and  is  surrounded  by  the  monuments  and 
memorials  of  Presbyterian  worthies  of  many 
generations.  The  need  of  a  church  in  that  lo- 
cality was  felt,  and  it  was  desired  to  protect  the 
hallowed  spot.  At  a  joint  meeting  of  the  officers 
of  the  First  and  Franklin  Street  Churches,  it  was 
determined  to  commence  the  erection  of  a  build- 
ing there.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  raise 
funds,  secure  the  assent  of  lot  holders,  and  super- 
intend the  work.  The  committee  were  Dr.  J. 
C.  Backus,  Joseph  Tajdor,  Alexander  Murdoch, 
Archibald  Stirling,  Daniel  Holt,  W.  W.  Spence, 
and  William  B.  Canfield,  from  the  First  Church, 
and  Matthew  Clark,  John  Faulkner,  E.  H.  Per- 
kins, and  John  Bigham  of  the  Franklin  Street 
Church.  The  building  was  completed  and  opened 
July  4th,  1852,  by  a  historical  discourse  from 
Dr.  Backus.  The  church  was  organized  in  July, 
1852,  with  sixty -one  members,  and  John  Faulk- 
ner and  John  M.  Brown  as  elders.  The  lecture 
room  and  Sunday-school  room  were  built  in  1857 ; 
the  parsonage  was  purchased  in  1858. 

EEV.    WILLIAM   J.    HOGE. 

The  Rev.  William  J.  Iloge  was  installed  first 
pastor  August  28th,  18G2.     He  was  a  child  of  the 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  69 

covenant  and  inherited  from  a  godly  ancestry  the 
blessings  of  the  covenant.  Left  an  orphan  at  an 
early  age  he  secured  a  liberal  education,  studied 
theology  privately  and  was  licensed  in  1850.  He 
was  popular  as  a  preacher,  and  his  services  were 
in  great  demand.  Dr.  Hoge's  pastorate  was 
eminently  successful,  when  to  the  surprise  and 
regret  of  his  people  he  declared  his  desire  to 
accept  a  professorship  in  Union  Seminary,  Vir- 
ginia, and  the  pastoral  relation  was  dissolved  in 
July,  1856.  In  1859,  he  became  collegiate  pastor 
with  Dr.  Spring,  of  the  Brick  Church,  Kew  York. 
On  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  he  returned  to 
Virginia,  and  on  the  5  th  of  July,  1864,  in  a 
country  home  near  Petersburg,  amidst  the  boom- 
ing of  cannon  and  the  alarms  of  war,  fell  asleep 
in  Jesus,  whispering, — they  were  his  last  words, 
— "  I  die,  but  1  live  in  Jesus  for  evermore."  Like 
Larned  and  Summerville,  and  many  a  noble  spirit 
besides,  worn  out  by  cares  and  anxieties  and  self- 
consuming  toil,  he  died  in  the  early  morning  of 
his  years. 

"  So  the  struck  eagle  stretched  upon  the  plain, 
No  more  through  rolling  clouds  to  soar  again, 
Viewed  his  own  feather  on  the  fatal  dart. 
And  winged  the  shaft  that  quivered  in  his  heart." 

DR.    CYRUS    DICKSON. 

Dr.  Dickson  was  installed  second  pastor  No- 
vember  2Tth,  1856.     To   him   I  was  bound  aU 


70  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

through  life  by  ties  of  peculiar  intimacy  and 
tenderness,  and  I  cannot  more  fittingly  speak  of 
him  than  by  reproducing  here  the  words  spoken 
at  his  funeral  in  Baltimore  September  14th,  1881. 

We  were  boys  together.  We  were  classmates 
at  college.  We  were  settled  side  by  side  as 
pastors  during  the  first  seven  years  of  our  min- 
istry and  then,  separated  for  a  little  while,  were 
reunited  here.  We  crossed  the  Atlantic,  traversed 
Europe,  climbed  the  pyramids,  stood  on  the  shores 
of  the  Red  Sea,  together.  I  have  been  a  frequent 
inmate  of  his  home  since  the  day  he  first  had  a 
home.  I  have  seen  his  children  grow  up  round 
him  and  have  buried  his  dead.  For  half  a  century 
our  lives  have  run  on  together  side  by  side.  It  is 
hard  at  this  solemn  moment  to  bid  away  these 
thronging  memories,  to  bid  down  these  throb- 
bing emotions  and  to  speak  of  him  calmly,  im- 
personally as  the  occasion  requires. 

Cyrus  Dickson  was  born  in  the  township  of 
E'orth  East,  Erie  County,  Pa.,  on  the  20th  day 
of  December,  1816.  His  childhood  Avas  passed 
on  the  shore  of  the  great  lake,  and  almost  within 
hearing  of  the  thunders  of  Niagara.  He  was 
a  child  of  the  covenant,  and  the  descendant  of 
a  long  line  of  godly  ancestry,  some  of  whom 
were  princes  in  Israel.  Breathing  the  atmos- 
phere and  surrounded  by  the  hallowed  influences 
of  a  Christian  home  his  earliest  and  profoundest 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  71 

impressions  were  of  the  nearness,  the  realit}^,  the 
transcendent  importance  of  eternal  things.  How 
fondly  he  cherished  the  sacred  memories  of  that 
home  and  how  lasting  its  impress  upon  his 
character ! 

Western  Pennsylvania  was  then  almost  a  wil- 
derness. Its  first  settlers  were  almost  all  Pres- 
byterians of  the  straightest,  purest,  strongest 
type  from  Scotland,  from  northern  Ireland,  from 
the  Cumberland  Valley,  and  the  homes  of  Pres- 
byterianism  in  the  East,  but  chiefly  from  Wash- 
ington and  the  southern  counties  of  the  State. 
Dr.  McMillan,  the  John  Knox  of  his  age,  God 
had  raised  up  and  endued  with  apostolic  gifts, 
and  sent  before  as  a  herald,  to  prepare  his  Avay  in 
the  wilderness.  From  his  log  cottage  in  Canons- 
burg,  the  Geneva  of  the  West,  there  went  forth  a 
race  of  ministers,  whose  like  the  world  has  seldom 
seen  since  apostolic  times.  Their  names,  if  grow- 
ing dim  on  earth,  are  ever  growing  brighter  in 
heaven.  Their  labors,  if  long  since  ended  on 
earth,  still  follow  them  in  blessed  influences  and 
sanctified  souls  who  have  never  heard  their  names. 
Tate,  Eaton,  Johnson,  Hughs,  Satterfield,  Woods, 
McCurdy,  Smith,  Marquis,  these  are  the  honored 
names  of  some  of  these  mighty  men  of  old. 
From  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  to  the  shores  of  the 
Great  Lakes  they  went  everywhere  preaching  the 
gospel  of  the  kingdom  and  crying  aloud  :  "  Pre- 


72  EIGHTY   YEAKS. 

pare  thee  in  the  desert,  the  highway  of  our  God." 
The  pulpit  was  then  what  tiie  pulpit,  platform 
and  press  combined  are  to-day,  and  their  pulpits 
were  the  mightiest  influence  in  fashioning  so- 
ciety. The  people  were  poor  in  this  world's 
goods,  but  they  were  preeminently  rich  in  faith. 
Eternal  things  were  not  to  them  myths  or 
shadows,  or  soulless  abstractions,  but  present 
and  palpable  realities.  They  saw  God,  and 
heaven,  and  hell,  as  present  and  real  and  these 
influenced  and  controlled  their  whole  lives. 
Religion  Avas  their  chief  business  and  chief 
theme  of  conversation.  Instead  of  morning 
papers  and  magazines  and  reviews  and  cheap 
literature  of  every  kind  the  Bible  and  the  con- 
fession of  faith,  and  Baxter  and  Doddridge,  and 
Bunyan,  furnished  almost  exclusively  their  read- 
ing. 

Their  communion  seasons  were  like  the  great 
annual  festivals  of  the  Jews.  They  were  held  in 
groves,  God's  first  temples,  for  no  walls  could 
contain  the  gathering  multitude.  The  services 
were  protracted  for  many  days.  The  people  as- 
sembled from  many  miles  round,  neighboring 
ministers  Avere  called  in,  preaching  from  the  tent 
was  continued,  Avith  short  intervals,  almost  the 
entire  day ;  and  far  into  the  night  the  A^oice  of 
prayer  and  praise  Avas  heard  in  their  dAvellings. 
The  Spirit  often  came  down  upon  them  like  the 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  Y3 

rustling  wind  in  the  tree  tops  or  the  rushing  wind 
of  Pentecost.  The  revival  services  of  those  times 
were  Pentecostal.  Most  remarkable  in  their  na- 
ture and  methods,  most  lasting  in  their  blessed 
influences,  few  scenes  in  the  whole  history  of  the 
Church  so  displayed  the  power  of  God's  Spirit 
and  so  magnified  the  grace  of  the  gospel.  It  was 
amidst  such  influences  that  the  childhood  of  Dr. 
Dickson  Avas  passed  and  his  Christian  character 
formed.  The  blessed  baptism  then  received  left 
its  lasting  influence  on  his  whole  life. 

At  the  early  age  of  fourteen  he  joined  himself 
publicly  to  the  Lord,  and  from  that  hour  his  pur- 
pose to  enter  the  ministry  seems  to  have  been 
fixed.  He  was  graduated  at  Jefferson  College 
in  1837,  in  the  class  which  embraced  the  martyr 
missionary  Lowry,  and  gave  as  the  fruit  of  the 
precious  college  revival  so  many  ministers  to  the 
Church.  His  theological  studies  were  pursued 
under  private  instructions,  for  theological  semi- 
naries were  then  in  their  infancy. 

In  June,  1840,  he  was  ordained  and  installed 
pastor  of  the  united  churches  of  Franklin  and 
Sugar  Creek,  in  Venango  County,  Pa. ;  in  the 
same  year  he  was  married  to  Miss  Delia  E. 
McConnell,  the  helper  of  his  faith,  the  sharer  of 
his  labors,  the  charm  of  his  home,  the  solace  of 
his  life  for  forty  years,  and  a  ministering  angel 
at  his  dying  bed. 


74  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

Franklin,  the  county  seat  of  Yenango  County, 
situated  at  tlie  junction  of  French  Creek  and  the 
Allegheny  River,  was  then  a  little  village  of 
some  400  inhabitants.  Sugar  Creek,  on  the 
stream  of  that  name  was  some  seven  miles  dis- 
tant. The  churches  in  both  places  were  little, 
rough,  wooden  structures,  with  naked  w^alls  and 
quaking  windows,  and  rude  pine  pulpits,  lit  up 
at  night  by  flickering  tallow  candles.  The  peo- 
ple were  few,  scattered,  poor,  primitive  in  their 
manners  and  customs.  The  salary  was  $300. 
Those  churches  w^ere  just  on  the  edge  of  what 
then  was  almost  a  w^ilderness,  now  the  oil  region 
of  Pennsylvania.  The  roads  w^ere  often  but 
blind  bridle  paths,  filled  with  stumps,  and  in 
places,  almost  impassable  from  snags.  The 
streams  were  bridgeless  and  the  crossings  of 
French  Creek,  and  Oil  Creek  and  Broken  Straw 
were  often  difficult  and  sometimes  perilous.  A 
few  feeble  churches  were  erected  at  long  inter- 
vals, and  where  they  were  wanting  the  lordly  pine 
or  the  wide  spreading  oak,  or  the  rude  country 
schoolhouse  afforded  a  sanctuary.  The  people 
hungered  and  thirsted  for  the  bread  of  life,  and 
it  was  the  delight  of  the  young  pastor,  mounted 
on  a  horse  as  well  known  throughout  all  that 
region  as  himself,  through  hunger  and  cold  and 
storm  to  carry  the  bread  of  life  to  those  scattered 
sheep  in  the  wilderness.      I  often  accompanied 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  T5 

him  on  what  might  be  called  his  missionary 
tours,  and  saw  how  his  coming  was  always  a 
festal  time. 

His  fame  as  a  preacher  began  to  be  noised 
abroad  and  other  and  wider  fields  began  to 
solicit  him.  In  1848,  he  accepted  a  call  from  the 
Second  Church  of  Wheeling,  Ya.,  then  just 
organized.  Upon  his  new  field  he  entered  with 
characteristic  ardor.  The  church  grew  in  num- 
bers and  influence,  and  became  under  his  pastor- 
ate, one  of  the  largest  and  most  influential  for 
good  in  the  Presbytery.  But  a  still  wider  field 
was  open,  and  in  November,  1856,  he  became  the 
pastor  of  the  Westminster  Church,  Baltimore. 
From  the  very  beginning  of  his  ministr}^  in  Bal- 
timore an  unusual  blessing  attended  him.  Dur- 
ing the  first  two  years  there  was  an  almost  con- 
tinual revival  and  the  people  of  God  Avere  quick- 
ened and  a  precious  harvest  of  souls  was 
gathered.  Then  the  voice  which  had  been  call- 
ing to  him,  "  Come  up  higher,"  called  once  more. 

In  1870,  he  Avas  elected  by  the  General  As- 
sembly secretary  of  the  Board  of  Home  Missions. 
The  congregation  with  one  heart  and  one  voice 
opposed  his  removal,  but  his  own  conviction  of 
duty  was  clear,  and  the  Presbytery  with  reluc- 
tance were  compelled  to  acquiesce.  For  ten 
years  he  filled  the  office  which  made  his  name  a 
household    word    throughout    all    Christendom. 


76  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

More  than  a  year  ago,  failing  health  compelled 
him  to  retire  from  the  active  duties  of  his  office 
and  to  seek  in  temporary  rest  strength  for  new 
labors.  But  his  work  was  done,  his  crown  was 
ready,  and  the  Master  had  need  of  him  for  a  still 
higher  service  above.  He  came  back  to  the  peo- 
ple he  had  loved  so  well  to  spend  among  them 
his  last  days  and  leave  with  them  his  precious 
dust.  Slowly  we  saw  the  light  of  life  go  out. 
Day  by  day  we  saw  his  steps  grow  feebler  and 
feebler,  his  eye  dimmer  and  dimmer,  and  his  elo- 
quent voice  fainter  and  fainter.  On  Sabbath 
morning,  September  11th,  1881,  his  spirit  was 
caught  up  into  the  temple  above  to  join  in  the 
worship  of  the  great  congregation  round  the 
throne. 

Such  is  the  brief  historic  outline,  the  setting 
of  the  picture.  But  the  picture  itself  we  hesitate 
to  attempt.  Portrait  painting  is  always  difficult. 
Those  delicate  spiritual  lines  which  the  soul 
within  traces  upon  the  features  it  is  hard  for  the 
most  skillful  pencil  to  transfer  to  canvas. 

1.  As  a  man  he  was  richly  and  in  many  re- 
spects most  remarkably  endowed.  There  was  in 
him  a  rare  combination  of  the  most  seemingly 
incompatible  qualities.  Imagination  was  the  im- 
perial faculty  of  his  mind  and  seemed  to  hold  all 
others  in  subjection.  Out  of  the  faintest  analo- 
gies and  the  dimmest  resemblances  it  fashioned 


EIGHTY    YEARS.  77 

ideal  scenes  and  built  up  ideal  worlds.  His  sen- 
sibilities were  keen,  reflecting  as  a  burnished 
mirror  the  form  of  every  passing  object.  His 
sympathies  were  quick,  and  warm  and  transform- 
ing. I  have  seldom  known  one  who  could  so 
thoroughly  appreciate  the  situation,  enter  into 
the  feelings  and  put  himself  into  the  place  of 
another.  Imaginative,  impressible,  sympathetic, 
affectionate,  his  temperament  was  that  of  the 
poet  and  his  world  the  world  of  romance.  And 
yet  with  all  this  there  was  a  strange  mingling  of 
the  most  prosaic  and  practical  qualities.  His 
observations  of  men  and  affairs  were  large  and 
yet  minute  and  circumstantial.  His  mind  was 
always  active,  his  faculties  always  on  the  alert 
and  he  was  always  gathering  knowledge  from 
surrounding  objects.  Of  those  marvelous  extem- 
poraneous speeches  which  thrilled  his  hearers  he 
might  say,  as  Daniel  Webster  said  of  his  great 
speech,  it  took  me  thirty  years  to  prepare  it. 

2.  These  natural  characteristics,  consecrated 
by  Divine  Grace  and  brought  into  the  service  of 
the  sanctuary,  gave  their  peculiar  complexion  to 
his  character  and  work  as  a  minister.  A  devout 
student  of  the  word,  his  theology  was  drawn 
directly  from  its  pages.  The  great  end  of  preach- 
ing as  he  regarded  it  was  simply  to  declare  the 
mind  of  the  Spirit,  and  his  preaching  was  largely 
expository.    But  his  imagination  embellished  and 


78  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

flung  attractions  round  the  most  familiar  truths, 
grouping  them  into  new  forms  and  presenting 
them  in  new  combinations,  so  that  the  old  was 
forever  becoming  new.  His  ardent  sympathies 
enabled  him  to  discern  the  application  of  the 
truth  unfolded  to  the  wants  of  his  hearers,  and 
his  ardent  aifections  enabled  him  to  bring  them 
home  to  their  business  and  bosoms  with  rare 
power.  The  man  embodied  himself  in  the 
preacher  and  transfused  his  own  magnetic  qual- 
ity into  the  sermon. 

3.  As  a  pastor  he  was  almost  everything  that 
a  pastor  should  be.  Kind,  tender,  S3^mpathetic, 
he  was  ever  ready  to  weep  with  those  who  wept 
and  to  rejoice  with  those  who  rejoiced — not  in 
those  great  sorrows  only  which  rend  the  heart- 
strings, but  in  the  everyday  annoyances  and  per- 
plexities which  make  up  so  much  of  the  bitter- 
ness of  every  life.  He  was  a  wise  counselor  and 
a  skillful  guide.  I  remember  well  the  impression 
made  by  the  young  pastor  among  his  ow^n  peo- 
ple and  throughout  the  churches  of  Western 
Pennsylvania.  He  did  not  dwell  in  a  world 
apart.  He  knew  men,  he  knew  affairs.  He  was 
a  dweller  in  this  present  world  of  living  men 
and  living  interests.  He  could  talk  with  farm- 
ers, and  merchants,  and  physicians,  and  lawyers, 
and  judges,  with  an  intelligent  appreciation  of 
their  affairs  and  a  real  sympathy  in  their  per- 


EIGHTY   YEAKS.  "      79 

plexities.     And  these  sanctified  secularities  were 
always  a  power  in  his  ministry. 

4.  Of  him  as  a  presbyter  I  need  scarcely 
speak.  His  promptness  in  attendance  upon  all 
meetings,  his  readiness  to  take  his  full  share  of 
labor  and  responsibility,  his  quickness,  his  versa- 
tility, his  large  information,  his  ripe  experience, 
his  deep  earnestness  and  magnetic  power,  are 
well  known.  How  invaluable  his  counsels,  how 
effective  his  agency,  especially  in  composing  dif- 
ferences and  healing  breaches ! 

5.  As  a  secretary.  Great  as  the  loss  was  to 
us,  great  as  the  grief  was  to  him  in  sundering  the 
ties  which  bound  him  here,  the  Church  acted 
wisely  for  her  larger  interests  in  placing  him  at 
the  head  of  her  Board  of  Missions.  His  qualifi- 
cations for  the  work,  both  theoretical  and  prac- 
tical, were  remarkable.  Few  had  a  larger  knowl- 
edge of  this  great  land  in  its  present  condition, 
or  a  clearer  prophetic  vision  of  its  greatness. 
From  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  from  the  Great 
Lakes  to  the  Southern  Gulf,  it  was  spread  out 
before  him  as  a  map.  He  had  traversed  almost 
its  entire  extent.  He  delighted  in  collecting 
statistics  and  gathering  information  of  every 
kind  concerning  it;  with  its  climate,  soil,  pro- 
ductions, character  of  its  inhabitants,  undevel- 
oped resources  and  possibilities  for  the  future, 
few  statisticians  were  better  acquainted.     From 


80  EIGHTY   YEAKS. 

boyhood,  the  coming  glory  of  this  great  land  was 
a  delightful  theme.  His  eye  always  sparkled, 
and  his  voice  always  grew  eloquent  when  he 
adverted  to  it.  And  with  those  glowing  visions 
there  was  burned  into  his  very  soul  the  profound 
conviction  that  the  gospel  was  the  only  hope  for 
that  future.  Those  marvelous  speeches  of  his, 
which  so  thrilled  all  hearts  in  Presbyteries,  and 
Synods,  and  General  Assemblies,  and  gave  such  a 
mighty  impulse  to  the  cause  for  which  he  pleaded, 
were  just  the  outflow  of  that  clear  prophetic  vis- 
ion of  the  future  greatness  and  glory  of  this  broad 
land  and  the  profound  conviction  that  the  gospel 
alone  was  the  conservator  of  that  future. 

KEV.    DAVID    C.    MAKQUIS. 

Dr.  Dickson  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  David 
C.  Marquis,  who  was  installed  third  pastor  in 
September,  1870.  Dr.  Marquis  was  born  in  Mer- 
cer county,  Pa.  He  was  a  child  of  the  covenant 
and  planted  in  the  house  of  the  Lord.  Reared 
in  Western  Pennsylvania,  like  Dr.  Dickson,  he 
was  surrounded  on  every  side  by  churches  who 
had  received  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Some  of  the  noble  company  of  the  apostles  of 
Western  Pennsylvania,  Tate  and  Satterfield,  and 
Munson,  still  survived  and  he  was  privileged  from 
time  to  time  to  sit  at  their  feet.  Amid  such  hal- 
lowed influences  his  childhood  and  early  youth 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  81 

were  passed,  and  here  he  received  his  best  educa- 
tion and  anointing.  Early  in  life  he  gave  him- 
self to  his  father's  God  to  serve  him  in  the  min- 
istry. He  was  graduated  at  Jefferson  College 
and  studied  theology  at  the  Western  Theological 
Seminary.  He  is  a  profound  biblical  scholar,  a 
thorough  Presbyterian  and  a  thorough  Calvinist. 
Of  sturdy  nature,  of  strong  will  and  strong  con- 
victions, but  tolerant  of  the  opinion  of  others,  a 
delightful  companion,  a  loyal  friend,  a  brother 
loving  and  beloved.  It  was  no  easy  matter  to 
follow  such  a  man  as  Dr.  Dickson  and  fill  the 
pulpit  which  he  had  occupied.  But  this  Dr. 
Marquis  did.  His  pastorate  was  eminently  suc- 
cessful and  his  influence  was  felt,  not  in  West- 
minster alone,  but  throughout  the  city  and  the 
Presbytery.  In  October,  1878,  the  pastoral  rela- 
tion at  his  request  was  dissolved. 

Of  the  remaining  pastors  who  come  so  near  to 
our  own  times  we  need  but  give  names  and  dates. 
Kev.  William  J.  Gill  was  installed  December 
18th,  1878,  and  resigned  January,  1884.  Rev. 
Morris  E.  Wilson,  installed  December,  1884,  re- 
signed February,  1890.  Rev.  J.  W.  Rogan,  in- 
stalled November,  1890,  resigned  October,  1896. 
Rev.  John  M.  Allison,  the  present  pastor,  in- 
stalled April,  1897. 

From  various  causes  Westminster  for  some 
years  past,  has  labored  under  difficulties  and  dis- 


82  EIGHTY   YEAKS. 

couragements,  but  the  skies  have  begun  to 
brighten  and  cheering  signs  of  promise  begin  to 
appear.  The  pastorate  of  Brother  Allison,  brief 
as  it  has  been,  has  been  greatly  blessed  and  all 
hearts  are  encouraged  and  strengthened. 

The  present  officers  of  the  church  are,  Rev. 
John  L.  Allison,  pastor ;  Benjamin  Whitely,  Elijah 
S.  Heath,  S.  C.  Brewster,  E.  L.  Pettit,  C.  W.  Cog- 
gins  and  John  Templeton,  elders  ;  Eobert  Davis, 
David  Conan,  Alexander  P.  Gray,  Sr.,  and  J. 
Kennedy  Mattee,  deacons. 

The  last  statistical  report :  Communicants, 
whole  number,  302 ;  adults  and  infants  baptized, 
11 ;  Sunday-school  members,  131 ;  contributed 
to  Home  Missions,  $305.00 ;  Foreign  Missions, 
$213.00 ;  Education,  $12.00 ;  Sunday-school  Work, 
$51.00;  Church  Erection,  $6.00;  Relief,  $16.00; 
Freedmen,  $9.00;  Synodical  Aid,  $26.00;  Aid 
for  Colleges,  $8.00 ;  General  Assembly,  $25.00 ; 
Congregational,  $3,985.00  ;  Missions,  $42.00. 

CENTRAL  CHURCH. 

The  history  of  the  Central  Church  is  in  many 
respects  a  remarkable  history.  It  has  passed 
through  all  the  vicissitudes  and  experienced  all 
the  changes  possible  to  churches.  It  has  reached 
the  heights  of  prosperity  and  sunk  into  the 
depths  of  adversity.  To-day  trembling  for  its 
existence,  and  to-morrow  rejoicing  in  its  abun- 


EIGHTY   YEAES.  83 

dant  enlargement.  There  is  not  a  chapter  in  the 
history  of  any  of  our  churches,  prosperous  or  ad- 
verse, which  does  not  find  its  counterpart  in  the 
Central  Church.  Hitherto,  we  have  passed 
lightly  over  the  financial  distresses  and  pro- 
tracted struggles  through  which  most  of  our 
churches  have  passed  and  through  which  so  many 
are  passing  to-day.  The  entire  history  of  many 
from  the  beginning  is  that  of  one  long,  unbroken, 
at  times  almost  hopeless,  struggle  for  existence. 
How  many  heart-breaks  of  pastors  and  pastors' 
wives,  when  they  were  compelled  for  years  to 
repeat  the  weary  question  to  each  other,  What 
shall  we  eat,  and  what  shall  we  drink,  and 
wherewithal  shall  we  be  clothed  ? 

We  propose  here  to  tell  the  story  of  the 
Central  Church  at  greater  length,  because  it  is 
typical  of  all  these.  The  reading  may  bring 
cheer  to  some  burdened  hearts,  and  inspire  hope 
and  courage,  too,  in  some  who  are  just  ready  to 
faint  in  the  long  struggle,  for  who  knoweth 
when  enlargement  and  deliverance  may  come  to 
them  ? 

The  Central  Church  was  organized  in  1853,  as 
appears  from  the  following  record  : 

"Baltimore,  April  13,  1853. 
"  At  a  meeting  of  the  committee  of  Presbytery 
for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a  congregation  to 


84  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

be  called  The  Central  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Baltimore,  the  committee,  consisting  of  Dr.  J.  T. 
Smith,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  M.  T.  Atkinson,  and  Elder  Wil- 
liam B.  Canfield,  met  in  the  lecture  room  of  the 
Franklin  Street  Presbyterian  Church.  Meeting 
opened  with  prayer  by  the  Eev.  Mr.  Atkinson. 
After  a  statement  of  the  object  of  the  meeting 
by  Dr.  Smith,  chairman,  the  names  of  the  per- 
sons asking  for  the  organization  of  the  Central 
Church  were  read,  amounting  to  the  number  of 
eighty-three.  On  motion  it  was  resolved  to  elect 
two  elders,  and  to  elect  viva  voce  j  whereupon 
Dr.  Baer  and  John  McEldowney  were  elected 
elders." 

Of  the  eighty-three  members,  some  seventy 
were  from  the  Associate  lleformed  Church,  and 
owing  to  their  peculiar  views  of  church  polit}^, 
only  two  could  be  induced  to  serve  the  church  as 
elders  and  none  as  deacons.  Immediately  upon 
their  organization  they  called  the  Rev.  Stuart 
Robinson  as  their  pastor.  Mr.  Robinson  had  been 
serving  the  Associate  Reformed  Church  for  some 
time  with  great  acceptance,  but  he  was  a  high 
church  Presbyterian,  and  the  congregation  was  in- 
dependent. In  a  little  time  there  was  friction 
between  the  pastor  and  officers  of  the  church 
and  Mr.  Robinson's  position  had  become  so 
embarrassing  that  he  accepted  the  call.     A  com- 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  85 

modioLis  liall  was  procured  on  Hanover  Street, 
for  the  temporary  use  of  the  congregation.  A 
lot  was  selected  on  the  corner  of  Saratoga  and 
Liberty  Streets.  The  erection  of  a  church  build- 
ing was  at  once  commenced  and  was  completed 
in  about  two  years.  Its  total  cost  was  some 
$03,000.  A  debt  Avas  left  upon  it  of  $30,000, 
$18,000  of  Avhich  was  made  permanent,  and 
rested  as  a  heavy  incubus  upon  the  church  for 
many  a  weary  year.  Mr.  Robinson  was  highly 
popular  as  a  preacher,  large  congregations  were 
attracted,  and  to  the  superficial  observer  all 
seemed  well,  but  the  state  of  the  finances  was 
not  satisfactory.  Irritating  questions  arose  as  to 
the  respective  functions  of  church  officers,  and 
the  proper  policy  to  be  pursued,  and  in  1856,  at 
the  request  of  Mr.  Robinson,  the  pastoral  relation 
Avas  dissolved. 

Under  the  pastorate  of  Mr.  Robinson  the  num- 
ber of  members  increased  from  eighty-three  to 
257.  J.  Harmon  Brown,  John  Doane,  J.  M. 
Stevenson,  Sr.,  and  William  Hogg  were  added  to 
the  eldership.  In  1855,  William  Reynolds,  Sr., 
George  W.  Andrews,  W.  A.  Dunnington,  Dr.  J. 
H.  Perkins,  and  William  H.  Stevenson,  were 
ordained  the  first  deacons.  The  trustees  were 
George  M.  Gill,  J.  Hartshorne,  William  Miller, 
G.  Armstrong,  George  F.  Webb,  Benjamin  De 
Ford  and  William  Reynolds,  Sr.     The  removal 


86  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

of  Mr.  Robinson  told  at  once,  and  disastrously, 
upon  all  the  interests  of  the  congregation.  Many 
and  for  a  time  uniformly  unsuccessful  efforts  were 
made  to  procure  a  successor.  Drs.  B.  M.  Smith, 
William  M.  Paxton,  William  A.  Scott,  Charles 
Wads  worth,  and  Dr.  Thompson,  were  succes- 
sively called,  and  all  declined,  apparently  for  the 
same  reasons — the  unsatisfactory  state  of  the 
finances  and  the  peculiarity  of  the  organization 
of  the  church.  At  length  in  January,  1858,  Dr. 
Thomas  E.  Peck  accepted  a  call.  For  several 
years  he  had  been  pastor  of  Broadway  Church, 
with  large  experience  and  extensive  acquaintance 
in  the  city.  He  struggled  on  for  two  years  and 
then  left  to  accept  a  professorship  in  Union  Sem- 
inary, Virginia.  He  was  succeeded  by  Hev.  Silas 
G.  Dunlap,  who  remained  but  a  few  months. 

The  condition  of  the  congregation  now  ap- 
peared to  its  best  and  bravest  friends  to  be 
altogether  desperate.  Its  income  was  reduced  to 
$1,450.  Its  expenditures  were  $3,630.  Attend- 
ance upon  all  its  services  had  greatly  fallen  off. 
Many  of  its  members  had  united  with  other 
churches,  and  the  discouraged  remnant  were 
openly  debating  the  question  of  disbanding. 
The  corporation  was  bankrupt  and  the  church 
was  dead  without  hope  of  revival  in  itself.  If 
saved  at  all  it  must  be  saved  from  without. 
There  were  at  the  time  three  separate  interests, 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  87 

which  if  combined  and  brought  into  the  Central 
Church  might  preserve  it  from  extinction.  The 
Third  and  Fifth  Churches  had  both  been  dis- 
solved, but  remnants  of  their  membership  and 
fragments  of  their  funds  were  still  left.  Several 
families  of  the  Second  Church  had  removed  into 
the  vicinity.  Could  these  three  interests  be  united 
and  combined  with  the  Central  Church  it  might 
be  saved.  To  accomplish  this,  representatives  of 
all  three,  Mr.  James  Malcolm,  Messrs.  James 
and  Hugh  Warden,  Mr.  William  Crichton,  and 
others  of  the  Second  Church,  Mr.  William  H. 
Cole,  Mr.  William  McLean,  and  others  of  the 
Third  Church,  and  Mr.  John  F.  McJilton,  Mr. 
George  F.  Needham  and  others  of  the  Fifth 
Church,  conferred  together  on  the  subject. 
They  had  throughout  the  hearty  sympathy  and 
cordial  cooperation  of  Dr.  Backus,  with  his  great 
influence  and  supreme  devotion  to  the  cause. 
After  protracted  negotiations,  they  succeeded  at 
last  in  uniting  the  three  interests.  Then  they 
approached  the  Central,  offering  to  pay  off  their 
floating  debt,  which  was  large  and  pressing,  to 
secure  the  payment  of  the  interest  of  the  perma- 
nent debt,  $1,080  per  year,  and  to  provide  for 
the  current  annual  expenses,  conditioned  upon 
the  calling  of  Dr.  J.  T.  Smith  as  their  pastor. 

Dr.  Smith  was  at  that  time  in  the  theological 
seminary  at  Danville,  but  the  condition  of  the 


88  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

seminary  too,  had  become  desperate.  Drs.  Breck- 
inridge and  Humphreys,  on  whom  the  seminary 
Avas  mainly  dependent,  were  both  entirely  dis- 
abled by  sickness.  On  account  of  the  w^ar,  the 
students  who  were  largely  from  the  south  and 
southwest,  dispersed  until  only  eleven  were  left, 
and  it  was  evident  that  the  doors  of  the  seminary 
must  be  closed.  Dr.  Smith  had  some  inviting 
positions  within  his  reach  and  one  of  them  he 
was  inclined  to  accept  when  the  call  from  Balti- 
more came.  It  is  always  hazardous  for  a  pastor 
to  return  to  a  field  he  has  once  occupied.  The 
difficulties  of  welding  four  such  diverse  elements 
into  one  harmonious  whole,  and  that  amidst  the 
agitations  and  passions  engendered  by  the  war, 
were  all  apparent.  But  he  had  written  to  Dr. 
Backus  and  Mr.  Malcolm  that,  as  they  Avere  on 
the  ground  and  knew  all  the  circumstances  he 
would  submit  his  judgment  to  theirs,  and  upon 
their  representations  the  call  was  accepted.  He 
came  at  once  to  Baltimore  and  was  installed  pas- 
tor of  the  church  on  the  10th  of  March,  1862, 
Drs.  Backus,  Dickson  and  J.  J.  Bullock  conduct- 
ing the  installation  services.  The  officers  of  the 
church  were  at  this  time :  elders,  J.  M.  Steven- 
son, Sr.,  and  William  Hogg ;  deacons,  William 
M.  Stevenson,  Dr.  J.  H.  Perkins  and  William 
Reynolds,  Jr. ;  the  trustees  as  reorganized, 
Joshua  Hartshorne,  J.  H.  Stimson,  Thomas  D. 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  89 

Baircl,  Alexander  Eieman,  William  II.  Stevenson, 
George  F.  Webb,  William  Eeynolds,  Sr.,  James 
Malcolm,  William  Crichton,  Hugh  Warden,  Wil- 
liam H.  Cole,  and  George  F.  Needham. 

The  prosperity  of  the  church  and  congregation 
for  a  few  years  was  altogether  unexampled.  The 
pew  rents,  then  the  source  of  congregational 
revenue,  advanced  from  some  $1,400  to  $5,200. 
The  offerings  from  $4,000  to  some  $15,000.  The 
pastor's  salary  was  doubled,  and  financially  the 
arrangement  succeeded  beyond  hope.  The 
church  membership  increased  from  a  little  more 
than  a  hundred  to  upward  of  400.  The  congre- 
gation became  the  largest  in  the  city.  For  a 
time  it  was  the  fashion,  and  all  flocked  to  it. 
All  the  agencies  and  appliances  of  church  activi- 
ties, Sunday-school,  mission  societies,  ladies'  so- 
cieties were  abundant  in  efficient  labors.  The 
prosperity  of  the  church  seemed  to  be  assured, 
and  its  mountain  seemed  to  stand  strong. 

In  May,  1873,  the  General  Assembly  met  in 
the  church,  and  in  the  July  following  in  the  great 
fire  on  Clay  Street,  it  Avas  almost  totally  con- 
sumed, and  the  question  of  rebuilding  at  once 
arose.  The  resources  for  building  were  ample. 
$28,000  cash  in  hand,  $12,000  actual  subscriptions 
from  thirteen  persons,  $10,000  promised,  and  an 
interest  in  the  Saratoga  Street  lot  estimated  at 
$10,000  ;  in  all  $60,000.    With  this,  and  additional 


90  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

amounts  expected,  it  was  determined  to  erect  a 
building  without  debt. 

The  question  as  to  the  location  of  the  new 
church  gave  rise  to  protracted  consideration, 
some  wishing  to  build  on  the  old  site,  others  pre- 
ferring to  build  further  west  or  northwest. 
While  these  questions  were  under  consideration 
another  and  more  serious  question  arose.  Can  we 
build  at  all  ?  For  the  great  financial  crisis  in  the 
closing  months  of  1873  had  swept  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  $60,000  away.  $15,000  unfortu- 
nately invested  were  almost  entirely  lost.  The 
promised  $10,000  failed.  The  Saratoga  Street 
lot,  instead  of  yielding  $10,000,  burdened  the 
church  with  an  annual  charge  of  $1,080.  JSTearl}^ 
all  was  gone,  and  under  the  financial  pressure  no 
subscriptions  could  be  hoped  for.  What  now 
shall  be  done  ?  Reduced  in  numbers,  and  w^ith- 
out  means,  how  can  Ave  make  bricks  without 
straw,  or  build  without  the  material  to  build  ? 
How  often  daring  those  dark  days  we  were  met 
with  the  salutation  which  met  the  poor  returned 
Jews  of  the  captivity  when  they  attempted  to 
rebuild  their  ruined  temple.  "  What  do  these 
feeble  Jews  ?  .  .  .  Will  they  revive  the  stones 
out  of  the  heaps  of  the  rubbish  which  are  burned  ?  " 
In  this  extremity,  when  all  hearts  were  failing 
them  for  fear,  a  meeting  of  trustees  was  called  in  a 
little  back  oifice  on  Courtland  Street  to  consider 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  91 

the  situation.  And  when  it  was  fully  set  forth,  a 
hushed  and  painful  silence  followed.  Then  Mr. 
Thomas  Kensett  arose.  I  can  see  him  now,  for 
my  eye  was  fixed  upon  him,  and  his  words  will 
be  with  me  forever.  "  Yes,"  said  he,  "  it  is  bad 
enough,  but  I  will  give  $5,000  to  begin  the  work." 
Another  and  another  followed  until  in  a  little 
time,  enough  was  raised  to  secure  the  lot,  lay 
the  foundations  of  the  church  and  erect  the  chapel 
adjoining.  The  chapel  was  completed  and  opened 
for  public  worship  on  the  20th  of  December, 
1874.  Protracted  services  were  held  on  the  oc- 
casion in  which  the  members  and  ministers  of 
other  denominations  united.  The  church  was 
dedicated  to  Christian  unity  from  its  very  foun- 
dation stone,  and  there  in  that  little  chapel  the 
congregation  lingered  through  five  years  of 
Aveary  waiting,  and  the  hope  deferred  that  maketh 
the  heart  sick.  How  short  those  years  now 
seem !  How  long  they  were  in  passing !  At 
length  an  honored  lady  came  to  me  one  day — how 
can  I  ever  forget  it  ? — and  said,  "  I  will  give  $5,000 
to  go  on  with  the  building."  Another  lady  said, 
"And  I  also  will  give  $5,000."  In  a  little  time 
enough  was  secured  to  raise  the  walls  and  com- 
plete the  exterior  of  the  building,  and  now  that 
all  means  were  exhausted,  what  shall  be  done  ? 
Business  men  told  us  that  on  business  principles 
we  must  stop.     Are  there  any  principles  other 


92  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

than  business  principles  upon  which  we  can  safely 
venture  '?  Have  we  any  promises  of  God,  the 
great  Proprietor,  whose  are  the  silver  and  the  gold, 
which  we  can  safely  trust  ?  Do  we  hold  any  se- 
curities of  faith  which  can  be  converted  into  the 
securities  of  the  market  ?  AYill  God  honor  our 
drafts  on  him  in  current  coin?  There  were 
some  who  took  the  golden  coin  in  their  hands 
and  translated  the  motto  on  its  face,  In  God  we 
Trust,  into  treasures  more  precious  than  gold. 
They  believed  on  their  business  principles  that 
the  promises  of  God  were  good  security.  So 
they  believed  and  the  work  Avent  on.  Materials 
were  to  be  provided  from  day  to  day.  Work- 
men were  to  be  paid  every  Saturday  night.  De- 
mands of  many  kinds  Avere  to  be  met.  And  al- 
Avays,  sometimes  in  strange  Avays,  and  at  the  very 
last  hour,  every  instant  demand  Avas  met,  every 
note  Avhen  due,  AA^as  paid,  and  the  credit  of  the 
church  Avas  kept  untarnished.  At  last  the  church, 
a  model  of  simple  and  severe  beauty,  so  symmet- 
rical in  its  proportions,  so  harmonious  in  its  color- 
ing, so  admirable  in  all  its  appointments  was 
completed.  On  March  8th,  1879,  it  Avas  opened 
for  public  Avorship.  The  pastor  preached  in  the 
morning,  assisted  in  the  opening  and  dedicatory 
services  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Backus  and  the  vener- 
able Dr.  McCosh  of  Princeton.  Mr.  Moody 
preached  in  the  afternoon  and  Dr.  McCosh  in  the 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  93 

evening.  It  was  a  day  of  gladness,  the  goal  of 
long  weary  years  of  toiling  and  struggling  and 
waiting,  the  answer  of  prayer,  the  reward  of 
faith,  the  vindication  of  God's  faithfulness  over 
against  our  unbelieving  fears. 

But  the  wilderness  was  not  yet  passed.  An- 
other and  final  struggle  remained.  There  was  a 
debt  of  $35,000  and  an  annual  deficiency  of  some 
$2,800.  It  was  an  appalling  prospect.  Expe- 
dient after  expedient  was  suggested,  tried  and 
abandoned.  Effort  after  effort  was  put  forth  to 
meet  by  temporary  devices  successive  exigencies 
as  they  arose.  And  all  the  time  the  burden  was 
growing  heavier  and  heavier.  At  last  it  was  de- 
termined to  abandon  all  tamperings  and  tempor- 
izings and  make  an  effort  to  discharge  the  debt 
entirely  and  at  once.  A  committee  of  chosen  men 
was  appointed  and  they  addressed  themselves 
with  earnestness  and  energy  to  the  task  before 
them.  The  entire  congregation  rallied  at  their 
call.  The  people  gave,  not  only  willingly,  but 
like  the  tribes  in  the  desert,  superabundantly. 
Offerings  were  refused  from  some  who  were  will- 
ing to  give  even  beyond  measure.  At  last  the 
$35,000  was  raised  and  the  work  was  done.  The 
annual  income  for  current  expenses  remained  to 
be  provided  for.  Hitherto  it  had  been  raised  by 
pew  rents,  supplemented  by  the  Ladies'  Aid  So- 
ciety and   special   efforts.     These  it  Avas  deter- 


94  EIGHTY   YEAKS. 

mined  to  abandon  and  secure  the  whole  amount 
needed  by  voluntary  subscriptions  in  advance. 
Subscriptions  were  at  once  taken  up  and  enough 
was  secured  to  meet  the  annual  expenses,  ^o 
debt,  no  deficiency !  We  were  like  them  that 
dreamed.  The  Ked  Sea  was  passed,  and  stand- 
ing on  the  other  shore  we  sang  our  Miriam  song 
of  thanksgiving. 

It  was  a  long  dark  night,  but  in  it  we  saw 
stars  we  had  never  seen  before.  It  was  a  Aveary 
wandering  in  the  w^ilderness,  but  the  pillar  of 
cloud  went  before  all  the  way.  It  was  a  stern 
trial  of  faith,  but  only  "  that  the  trial  of  your 
faith,  being  much  more  precious  than  that  of  gold 
that  perisheth,  .  .  .  might  be  found  at  last 
unto  praise  and  honor  and  glory."  Yery  much  of 
the  dross  of  the  church  was  consumed  in  the  fur- 
nace,— its  pride  and  worldliness,  its  rejoicing  in 
numbers  and  material  strength,  and  social  prestige, 
Avhich  so  often  converts  a  church  of  Christ  into  a 
social  or  religious  club,  "  whose  rejoicing  is  in  it- 
self." Its  gold  was  refined,  Walking  together 
through  the  flames,  in  drawing  near  to  the  Mas- 
ter, they  drew  near  to  each  other,  and  their  hearts 
were  knit  into  the  unity  of  spirit  and  the  bonds 
of  peace. 

All  the  time,  in  many  ways  and  through  many 
agencies  the  church  has  abounded  in  the  work 
of  the  Lord.     The  officers  of  the  church,  elders, 


EIGHTY    YEARS.  95 

deacons  and  trustees,  in  times  that  sorely  tried 
their  faith,  were  found  faithful  men.  The  women, 
as  always,  were  foremost  in  almost  every  work. 
The  Ladies'  Aid  Society  and  Helping  Hand  So- 
ciety were  helpers  indeed,  especially  in  the  dark 
days  of  deficiencies.  They  had  their  Missionary 
Societies,  home  and  foreign,  and  abounded  in  un- 
organized and  individual  as  Avell  as  in  organ- 
ized labors.  The  Young  People's  Societies  were 
means  of  grace  to  them,  and  the  Young  Men's 
Association  provided  sociables  and  public  lec- 
tures and  afforded  opportunity  for  many  de- 
lightful reunions  and  communions.  The  Sun- 
day-school through  all  these  years  was  the  right 
arm  of  strength  to  the  church.  It  has  been 
favored  from  the  beginning  with  a  succession  of 
superintendents  such  as  are  seldom  found :  Mr. 
McJilton,  Mr.  E.  C.  Small,  Mr.  William  Dugdale, 
and  Mr.  Theodore  Miller.  Under  the  superintend- 
ency  of  such  men  the  Sunday-school  was  at  once 
a  nursery  to  the  church  and  a  benediction  to  the 
community  around. 

But  its  activities  were  not  confined  within  it- 
self, or  devoted  to  its  own  advancement  alone. 
In  18G5,  Mrs.  Eachel  Colvin,  Mrs.  William  Key- 
nolds,  and  other  noble  women  with  them,  re- 
solved to  establish  a  mission  in  southwestern 
Baltimore.  Miss  Xehmyer,  a  woman  full  of  the 
missionary   spirit,  was    employed    to  visit    the 


96  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

families  in  that  region,  and  a  little  brick  chapel, 
which  had  been  erected  by  the  Columbia  Street 
Methodist  Church,  on  the  corner  of  Ridgley  and 
Hamburg  Streets,  was  purchased.  A  mission 
school  was  opened  in  it,  and  superintendents  and 
teachers  were  supplied  from  the  church.  Xot- 
withstanding  the  great  distance  and  the  difficulty 
of  access,  for  thirty  3^ears  in  summer  and  winter, 
in  sunshine  and  storm,  their  places  in  the  school 
were  always  filled.  Under  the  effective  and  un- 
tiring labors  of  Mr.  George  H.  Beatson,  the 
school  grew  in  numbers  and  in  influence  for 
good.  In  process  of  time  the  little  chapel  disap- 
peared and  a  spacious  stone  church  has  risen 
from  its  ruins.  The  mission  has  grown  into  an 
organized  church,  and  appears  on  the  roll  of  the 
Presbytery  as  the  Ridgley  Street  Church.  The 
little  one  has  become  a  thousand.  When  we 
look  at  it  to-day  and  then  look  back  to  its  feeble 
beginnings  we  are  ready  to  exclaim,  "  What  hath 
God  wrought ! " 

Some  years  later  Mr.  Richard  O.  Crisp,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  church,  left  a  legacy  of  $50,000  to 
establish  a  church  near  Brooklyn,  as  "  a  branch 
of  the  Central  Church."  Under  the  watchful 
superintendence  of  Mrs.  Crisp  and  her  super- 
added gifts,  a  beautiful  stone  building,  with  par- 
sonage adjoining,  was  erected  on  the  most  com- 
manding site  in  Brooklyn.     On  the  13th  of  May, 


EIGHTY    YEARS.  97 

1888,  in  the  presence  of  a  large  congregation,  the 
church  was  opened  for  public  worship.  A  church 
was  organized,  and  appears  on  the  list  of  the 
Presbj^tery  as  the  Crisp  Memorial  Church. 

The  church  has  given  eight  of  its  young  men  to 
the  ministry,  has  brought  as  gifts  to  the  Lord's 
treasury  nearly  $500,000,  has  built  three  churches, 
to  stand  as  memorials  of  God's  grace,  and  to 
leave  as  precious  legacies  to  those  who  shall 
come  after  them.  These  things  are  palpable, 
seen  and  read  of  all  men,  but  the  unrecorded 
labors,  the  invisible  fruits,  the  souls  blessed,  and 
quickened  and  saved  we  can  know  only  in  that 
great  day  when  the  books  are  opened  and  all  the 
hidden  things  of  time  are  disclosed. 

In  1893,  Dr.  Sanith,  who  had  been  pastor  of 
the  church  for  thirty-one  years,  and  had  reached 
the  age  of  seventy-live,  resigned  his  charge.  The 
Eev.  Hugh  K.  AYalker,  of  Birmingham,  Ala., 
was  called  as  his  successor.  He  entered  upon  his 
labors  with  great  earnestness  and  zeal,  but  be- 
fore the  results  of  his  work  could  be  fairly  seen, 
he  felt  constrained  by  reasons  which  seemed  to 
him  imperative,  to  ask  for  his  dismissal  to  enter 
another  field.  lie  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev. 
De  Witt  M.  Benham,  the  present  pastor,  who  has 
won  all  hearts  by  his  kindly  sympathies,  and 
courteous  manners,  and  earnest  devotion  to  his 
work.     Under  his  faithful  ministry  it  is  hoped 


98  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

that  the  time,  even  the  set  time,  to  favor  the 
Central  Church  has  come. 

The  present  officers  of  the  church  are :  the  Eev. 
De  Witt  M.  Benham,  Ph.  D.,  pastor. 

Elders,  William  H.  Cole,  Theodore  K.  Miller, 
George  H.  Beatson,  Joseph  T.  Smith,  M.  D., 
Benjamin  A.  Nelson,  John  T.  Hill,  Charles  W. 
Benson,  M.  D. 

Deacons,  Archibald  McElmoyle,  Louis  C. 
Deitsch,  Kobert  Cole,  William  L.  Smith,  Howard 
Martin,  J.  Wilson  Cole,  William  Vansant,  T. 
Turner  Tongue,  and  Hugh  Cooper. 

Trustees,  Theodore  K.  Miller,  William  H.  Cole, 
A.  McElmoyle,  George  H.  Beatson,  John  C. 
Eose,  Joseph  T.  Smith,  M.  D.,  T.  Turner  Tongue, 
Douglas  Rose,  John  Martin,  John  T.  Hill. 

STATISTICAL   REPORT   FOR  1898. 

Elders,  8 ;  deacons,  9 ;  added  on  examination, 
15 ;  on  certificate,  IG ;  dismissed,  18 ;  died,  3  ; 
whole  number,  401. 

Baptized  adults,  3 ;  infants,  4 ;  Sunday-school 
members,  314.  Contributions  for  Home  Missions, 
$1,038.00;  Foreign  Missions,  $645.00;  Edu- 
cation, $18.00;  Sunday-school  AYork,  $35.00; 
Church  Erection,  $337.00 ;  Relief,  $48.00  ;  Freed- 
men,  $19.00;  Synodical  Aid,  $46.00;  Aid  for  Col- 
leges, $12.00;  General  Assembly,  $50.00;  Con- 
gregational, $8,192.00 ;  Miscellaneous,  $47.00. 


EIGHTY    YEARS.  99 

MADISON  STREET  CHUECH   (Colored). 

During  the  same  year  with  the  Central,  1853, 
the  colored  church  now  worshiping  on  West 
Madison  Street,  was  organized.  Presbyterians 
had  always  felt  and  manifested  in  many  ways  a 
profound  interest  in  the  large  colored  population 
of  Baltimore.  In  those  early,  slavery  days. 
Christian  masters  recognized  their  obligation 
to  provide  for  tlie  religious  instruction  of  their 
slaves.  Mission  schools  and  Bible  classes  were 
established  among  the  colored  people  in  different 
sections  of  the  city,  and  devoted  teachers  were 
always  found  to  serve  them.  The  names  of 
colored  members  were  found  on  all  our  church 
rolls.  They  worshiped  with  the  white  congre- 
gations and  were  seen  in  them  all  seated  on  back 
seats  or  in  the  gallery.  The  relations  of  the  two 
races  and  their  proper  conduct  toward  each  other 
in  the  house  of  God  were  problems  even  more 
perplexing  then  than  now.  While  all  recognized 
the  fact  that  in  Christ  Jesus  there  is  neither 
bond  nor  free,  neither  black  nor  white,  practically 
it  was  found  difficult  to  manifest  this  unity  in 
the  forms  of  outward  and  visible  fellowship. 
The  colored  people  found  themselves  in  many 
ways  embarrassed,  and  as  they  thought,  hindered 
in  their  efforts  at  self-improvement  by  their  as- 
sociation with  the  whites.  Many  of  the  more 
intelligent  among  them  desired  a  separate  organ- 


100  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

ization.  After  protracted  and  prayerful  con- 
sideration it  was  determined  to  yield  to  their 
wishes  and  organize  a  colored  church  under  the 
care  of  a  white  pastor.  A  commodious  building 
was  erected  on  East  Madison  Street,  near  Park, 
and  the  Jlev.  Robert  L.  Galbreath,  who  was 
known  to  have  peculiar  aptitude  for  such  a  Avork, 
was  called  as  their  pastor.  His  installation  was 
an  occasion  of  unusual  interest,  and  gathered  a 
large  congregation  of  both  races.  All  felt  that 
the  experiment  was  one  of  great  significance,  and 
would  be  far  reaching  in  its  influence.  I  will 
never  forget  the  eloquent  Avords  of  Dr.  Plumer 
on  that  occasion.  In  charging  the  pastor  I  had 
spoken  of  the  happy  results  which  Ave  hoped  to 
see  following  the  transaction  of  that  day.  "  Yes," 
said  Dr.  Plumer,  Avho  folloAved,  "  we  will  see  its  re- 
sults, not  on  earth  only  but  in  heaven."  He  then 
Avent  on  to  speak  of  the  melodious  voices  of  colored 
people,  and  their  sweet  and  inspiring  singing  to 
Avhich  AA^e  had  just  listened.  "And,"  said  he, 
"  Avhen  their  voices  mingle  in  the  new  song  Avith 
those  of  the  great  choir  above,  they  Avill  raise  it 
to  a  louder,  gladder  strain."  He  then  Avent  on  in 
his  eloquent  way  to  speak  of  their  position  and  our 
solemn  obligation  toAvard  them,  addressing  him- 
self particularly  to  masters,  for  slavery  Avas  then 
not  3^et  abolished,  and  urging  upon  them  for  their 
own  safety,  for  their  country's  Avelfare,  and  for 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  101 

the  salvation  of  the  souls  intrusted  to  their  care, 
to  meet  the  responsibilities  imposed  upon  them. 

Mr.  Galbreath  served  the  church  faithfully  for 
some  years.  It  was  well  organized  and  its  offi- 
cers soon  became  familiar  with  their  respective 
duties  and  its  affairs  were  well  administered.  It 
has  always  occupied  a  first  place,  as  it  does  to-day, 
among  the  colored  churches  of  the  city.  A  long 
succession  of  colored  pastors  followed,  some  of 
whom,  tried  by  any  standard,  were  excellent  men 
and  superior  preachers.  Among  them  were  Mr. 
Eevels,  who  afterwards  became  United  States  Sen- 
ator from  Louisiana ;  Joseph  Carr,  who  has  occu- 
pied many  important  stations ;  and  William  H. 
Weaver,  whose  eloquent  appeals  in  behalf  of  his 
race  led  to  his  appointment  as  agent  of  the 
Board  of  Freedmen,  a  position  he  still  occupies. 
If  one  did  not  see  Brother  Weaver's  face  while 
speaking  he  might  imagine  himself  listening  to  a 
Jones,  or  a  Gibson,  or  a  Dickson.  For  obvious 
reasons  Presbyterian  services  are  not  so  attrac- 
tive to  colored  people  generally  and  their  pastors 
have  labored  diligently  to  instruct  their  people 
and  make  them  intelligent  Christians  and  give  to 
the  understandino;  its  rio-htful  control  over  their 
emotional  nature.  But  the  colored  churches  of 
the  city,  for  two  others  have  been  added  to  the 
number,  are  doing  a  needful  and  grand  work  for 
their  race  in  Baltimore. 


102  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

The  present  officers  are :  Eeuben  H.  Arm- 
strong, pastor ;  elders,  Cornelius  Butler,  James 
J.  Fessenton,  George  E.  Fry,  William  Scott. 

TWELFTH  CHUECII. 

During  the  same  year,  1853,  the  first  steps 
were  taken  toward  the  establishment  of  the 
Twelfth  Church.  At  a  meeting  of  the  friends  of 
the  enterprise  in  the  nineteenth  ward,  held  in 
the  office  of  Dr.  Joseph  H.  Perkins  and  presided 
over  by  Dr.  Backus,  it  was  determined  to  erect  a 
church  in  that  locality.  A  large  committee  was 
appointed  to  secure  subscriptions  and  superintend 
the  work,  consisting  of  Dr.  E.  II.  Perkins,  S.  W. 
Barber,  Thomas  Dixon,  Ira  B.  Canfield,  John 
Bigham,  Thomas  Harknes,  Charles  Findla}^,  M. 
Magne,  Dr.  Joseph  E.  Perkins,  J.  M.  Dickson 
and  John  Rogers.  A  lot  was  secured  on  West 
Franklin  Street,  near  Fremont,  and  the  building 
was  completed  and  opened  in  1854.  It  was  small 
and  incommodious,  but  has  been  renovated  and 
greatly  improved.  The  church  was  organized 
by  a  committee  of  Presbytery  in  Ma}^  1851,  and 
E.  P.  Horner  and  D.  A.  Hollingshead  were 
elected  elders. 

The  Rev.  C.  B.  McKee  had  gathered  a  Sunday- 
school  in  a  room  on  Fremont  Street,  and  con- 
ducted there  a  regular  preaching  service.  The 
school  removed  into  the  basement  of  the  new 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  103 

building  when  completed  and  Mr.  McKee  served 
the  church  as  a  stated  supply  until  1855.  The 
Rev.  James  Hughes  was  installed  the  first  pastor 
in  1858.  He  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  William 
R.  Marshall,  who  remained  until  1865.  The  Rev. 
J.  Y.  McCartney  was  elected  to  succeed  him  but 
died  before  he  entered  fairly  upon  his  work.  The 
Rev.  James  M.  Maxwell  succeeded  and  served 
the  church  until  1874.  The  Revs.  J.  M.  Jelly, 
Sylvester  W.  Beach  and  David  B.  Greigg,  served 
the  church  in  the  order  named  until  1898. 

The  Rev.  Joseph  S.  Malone,  the  present  pas- 
tor, has  just  entered  upon  his  work  Avith  encour- 
aging prospect  of  success. 

The  Twelfth  Church  has  recently,  as  indeed 
through  almost  its  entire  history,  from  vari- 
ous causes  been  compelled  to  struggle  against 
hindrances,  but  we  trust  there  is  now  the  dawn- 
ing of  a  better  day. 

The  present  officers  are :  Pastor,  Rev.  Joseph 
S.  Malone ;  elders,  Levi  A.  Dodd,  William  J.  Jami- 
son, Henry  Thomas,  Charles  Barnsley,  Dodson 
Postell. 

LIGHT  STREET  CHURCH. 

In  October,  1853,  the  w^omen  of  the  First 
Church  resolved  to  open  a  mission  school  on 
Federal  Hill  in  south  Baltnnore.  They  secured 
the  services  of  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Kaufman,  licenti- 


104  EIGHTY    YEAKS. 

ate  of  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  to  take 
charge  of  the  work.  He  succeeded  in  gathering 
a  large  number  of  children  into  a  hall  on  the 
corner  of  Light  and  Montgomery  Streets.  The 
school  prospered,  and,  as  there  was  no  Presby- 
terian Church,  in  south  Baltimore  it  was  resolved 
to  erect  one.  The  corner  stone  was  laid  in  the 
fall  of  1854,  and  the  building  was  opened  for 
public  worship  in  June,  1855.  The  church  was 
organized  with  twenty  members  in  April,  1855, 
and  in  April,  1856,  the  congregation  was  incor- 
porated under  the  name  of  the  South  Presby- 
terian Church,  which  was  afterward  changed  to 
the  Light  Street  Presbyterian  Church.  In  1858, 
a  parochial  school  was  opened  in  the  basement ; 
and  in  1862  a  parsonage  w^as  purchased.  The 
church,  feeble  from  the  beginning,  has  been  com- 
pelled all  through  its  history  to  contend  with  ad- 
verse circumstances,  but  in  the  face  of  all  dis- 
couragements has  kept  on  its  way  faint,  yet  pur- 
suing, and  has  been  a  benediction  to  south 
Baltimore.  Its  pastors,  I  knew  them  all,  Avere 
earnest,  self-sacrificing  men,  enduring  hardness 
as  good  soldiers.  Some  of  them  were  men  of 
rare  gifts  and  have  left  behind  them  blessed 
memories  and  enduring  monuments  of  their 
Avork.  We  can  but  give  their  names  and  years 
of  service. 

The   first,  the   Kev.  Henry  J.  Kaufman,  Avas 


EIGHTY   YEAKS.  105 

pastor  from  October,  1855,  till  September,  1860; 
Kev.  John  H.  Potter,  from  October,  1860,  to  June^ 
186T;  Eev.  G.  W.  Hair,  from  October,  1867,  to 
June,  1869;  Rev.  W.  G.  Hillman,  from  March, 
1870,  to  December,  1871 ;  Eev.  David  J.  Beale, 
from  April,  1872,  to  September,  188B;  Rev. 
James  D.  Fitzgerald,  from  November,  1883,  to 
September,  1888 ;  Rev.  James  P.  Green,  from 
May,  1889,  to  February,  1892 ;  Rev.  Kinley  Mc- 
Miilen,  from  May,  1892,  to  October,  1896;  Rev. 
William  M.  Everett,  the  present  pastor,  was  in- 
stalled in  .May,  1897. 

The  present  officers  of  tlie  church  are :  Rev. 
William  M.  Everett,  pastor;  elders,  Levi  A.  Mer- 
rill, William  L.  Beale,  Robert  E.  Lee  Butler, 
William  Frank  Downs. 

On  account  of  the  approaching  civil  war  there 
w^as  an  entire  arrest  put  upon  all  efforts  at  church 
extension  during  the  following  fourteen  years. 

BROWN  MEMORIAL  CHURCH. 

In  1870,  the  Brown  Memorial  Church  was 
erected  on  the  corner  of  Lafayette  and  Park 
Avenues.  It  was  built  and  presented  to  the  con- 
gregation by  Mrs.  Isabella  Brown,  as  a  memorial 
of  her  deceased  husband . 

The  church  was  organized  in  January,  1870. 
Brown  Memorial  Church  was  signally  favored 


106  EIGHTY   YEAKS. 

beyond  all  that  preceded  it  in  several  important 
particulars.  The  church  edifice  was  presented  to 
it  complete  and  its  pastor's  salary  guaranteed  for 
a  time.  It  was  spared  the  long  struggles  through 
which  others  were  compelled  to  pass.  Most  of 
our  churches  originated  in  Sunday-schools,  estab- 
lished in  little  rooms,  in  the  basement  or  on  the 
upper  floor  of  private  dwellings.  From  this  they 
merged  into  a  chapel,  small  and  rude,  but  taxing 
to  the  utmost  the  resources  of  the  builders.  It 
was  only  after  long  delays  and  strenuous  exer- 
tions the  church  at  last  appeared  burdened  with 
a  heavy  debt,  under  which  it  was  compelled  to 
stagger  for  years.  The  building,  too,  when  com- 
pleted, was  too  often  small,  incommodious  and 
every  way  unattractive.  But  Brown  Memorial 
entered  at  once  into  a  spacious  and  attractive 
building,  provided  for  it  without  debt.  Most  of 
our  churches  were  at  first  but  a  little  band  from 
which  men  of  wealth  and  social  influence  and 
experience  in  the  divine  life  and  the  conduct  of 
church  affairs  stood  aloof.  But  the  colony  which 
formed  the  Brown  Memorial  Church  was  strong 
in  all  the  elements  of  material,  social  and  spiritual 
strength.  How  it  is  to  be  wished  that  other 
Isabella  Browns  would  found  other  Brown  Me- 
morial churches  and  other  men  from  our  large 
churches  would  go  into  them  and  make  them 
strong  from  the  beginning. 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  107 

EEV.   J.    SPARHAWK   JONES. 

The  Kev.  J.  Sparhawk  Jones  Avas  ordained  the 
first  pastor  in  January,  1870.  Dr.  Jones  is  a  son 
of  the  Hon.  Joel  Jones,  and  was  born  in  Phila- 
delphia, June  5th,  1842.  He  Avas  graduated  at 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1862,  studied 
theolog}^  at  Princeton,  became  collegiate  pastor 
with  Dr.  Backus  of  the  First  Church  in  1867, 
and  for  three  years  served  that  church  with  con- 
stantly growing  popularity  till  the  spacious 
building  could  scarcely  contain  the  congregation. 
He  came  to  Brown  Memorial  Church  with  a 
large  acquaintance  and  an  established  reputation 
in  the  city.  His  preaching  was  peculiarly  at- 
tractive. He  gathered  hearers  from  all  churches 
and  from  all  sections  of  the  city.  In  the  height 
of  his  popularity  and  in  the  midst  of  his  useful- 
ness he  was  compelled  by  ill  health  to  seek  relief 
from  labor,  and  the  pastoral  relation  was  dissolved 
in  October,  1884. 

REV.   FRANK   GUNSAULUS. 

Dr.  Jones  was  succeeded  by  the  Kev.  Frank 
Gunsaulus,  a  native  of  Ohio,  educated  and  or- 
dained to  the  ministry  in  his  native  State.  He 
was  for  seven  years  pastor  of  a  Congregational 
church  in  Columbus,  Ohio,  and  afterward  of  a 
Congregational  church  in  Newtonville,  Mass.  In 
May,  1885,  he  was  installed  pastor  of  the  Brown 


108  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

Memorial  Church.  Dr.  Gunsaulus  is  an  eloquent 
preacher  with  marked  peculiarities  of  style  and 
manner  which  have  the  charm  of  novelty,  es- 
pecially to  a  Baltimore  audience.  He  was  averse 
to  all  definitions,  impatient  of  precision  in  thought, 
and  unskilled  in  logical  discussion.  He  reached 
and  moved  his  hearers  through  the  imagination 
and  heart.  His  imagination  was  truly  creative 
and  he  was  a  poet  in  the  old  sense  of  a  maker. 
He  could  give  to  airy  nothings  a  local  habitation 
and  a  name.  He  could  breathe  into  cold  ab- 
stractions and  dead  dogmas  the  breath  of  life, 
and  cause  them  to  live  and  move  before  his 
hearers.  The  limpid  flow  of  his  Avords,  and  the 
music  of  his  sentences,  never  failed  to  charm  the 
ears  of  his  hearers.  As  might  be  expected  from 
his  antecedents  the  atmosphere  of  Baltimore 
Presbyterianism  was  not  in  every  way  congenial, 
and  he  thought  he  could  be  more  useful  in  the 
Plymouth  Church  of  Chicago,  to  which  he  had 
been  called. 

KEV.    MALTBIE   D.    BABCOCK,  D.  D. 

The  Kev.  Maltbie  D.  Babcock,  D.  D.,  was  in- 
stalled in  1887.  Dr.  Babcock  was  born  and  edu- 
cated in  Central  Xew  York,  and  is  a  graduate  of 
Auburn  Theological  Seminary.  Under  his  min- 
istry the  church  is  flourishing,  as  never  before. 
Large  congregations  crowd  the  church  at  every 


EIGHTY    YEARS.  109 

service.  lie  is  an  attractive  preacher,  and  inde- 
fatigable .pastor.  The  church  abounds  in  liber- 
ality and  activities  of  every  kind.  Dr.  Babcock 
has  been  frequently  called  to  other  fields  but  thus 
far  has  resisted  all  solicitation,  for  his  work  in 
Baltimore  is  not  yet  done. 

The  present  officers  of  the  church  are :  the  Kev. 
Dr.  Maltbie  D.  Babcock,  pastor ;  elders,  John  P. 
Ammidon,  John  K.  Cowen,  E.  J.  D.  Cross,  O.  F. 
Day,  John  Dixon,  M.  D.,  P.  B.  Milliken,  I.  K. 
Page,  M.  D.,  John  E.  Eamsey,  II.  M.  Simmons, 
M.  D.,  Benjamin  F.  Smith ;  deacons,  Daniel  C. 
Ammidon,  James  O.  Bates,  Alexander  Boggs, 
Jr.,  A.  K.  Bond,  M.  D.,  Frank  M.  Dushane, 
Henry  King,  E.  T.  Laurens ;   trustees,  Thomas 

C.  Basshor,  James  A.  Gary,  W.  A.  Hanway, 
William  Harvey,  Jesse  Hilles,  Frederick  A.  Hoff- 
man, Daniel  W.  Hopper,  G.  A.  Yon  Lingen,  D. 

D.  Mallory,  Calvin  S.  Schriver,  Edward  War- 
field,  Charles  F.  Woods. 

Iv^^OX  CHUECH. 

In  1875,  a  Sunday-school,  for  colored  children, 
under  the  superintendence  of  the  Second  Church, 
was  opened  in  the  McKim  school  house  on  the 
corner  of  Baltimore  and  Aisquith  Streets.  The 
school  grew  in  numbers,  and  as  there  was  no 
colored  church  east  of  the  Falls,  it  was  resolved 
to  erect  one  in  that  vicinity.     It  was  organized 


110  EIGHTY    YEAIIS. 

February  15th,  1877,  with  some  fift}^  members. 
Mr.  Frederick  McGinnis,  and  George  Devin,  were 
elected  elders.  Efforts  were  made  from  time  to 
time  to  erect  a  church  building,  but  all  failed, 
until  the  enterprise  was  undertaken  by  the 
Presbyterian  Association.  They  secured  a  lot 
on  Colvin  Street  near  Hillen,  and  the  building 
was  erected  and  opened  for  public  worship  in 
]S"ovember,  1892. 

The  first  pastor  Avas  the  Eev.  William  McCoy 
Hargrave,  who  Avas  installed  April  29th,  1877. 
He  was  born  in  Lexington,  N.  C,  in  1847,  and 
was  graduated  from  Lincoln  University  in  1873. 
He  is  a  man  of  cultivated  tastes  and  fine  scholar- 
ship and  would  do  honor  to  any  pulpit.  The 
McKim  schoolhouse  which  the  congregation  oc- 
cupied during  his  pastorate  Avas  altogether  un- 
suited  to  their  needs.  The  members  Avere  few, 
poor,  and  Avidely  scattered.  Under  discourage- 
ments Avhich  Avould  have  overwhelmed  any  one 
less  braA^e,  he  labored  on  till  July  4th,  1886,  Avhen 
the  pastoral  relation  Avas  dissolved. 

He  Avas  succeeded  by  the  Eev.  William  C. 
BroAvn,  Avho  Avas  installed  in  1887,  and  serA^ed 
the  church  until  1893.  The  congregation  Avas 
served  by  temporary  supplies  until  the  present 
pastor,  the  Eev.  Alonzo  S.  Gray,  Avas  installed, 
April  9th,  1897.  He  Avas  born  in  John's  Island, 
!S.  C,  took  his  normal  and  industrial  training  at 


EIGHTY    YEAllS.  Ill 

Brainard  Institute,  S.  C,  was  graduated  from 
Lincoln  University  in  1893,  and  spent  two  ad- 
ditional years  in  the  study  of  theology  at  How- 
ard Universit}^,  D.  C.  He  is  a  well  read  theo- 
logian, a  well  instructed  Presbyterian,  with  man- 
ners and  diction  which  would  grace  any  pulpit. 
He  is  holding  on  his  way  in  the  face  of  unnum- 
bered difficulties,  and  proves  every  day  the 
Lord's  faithfulness  to  his  promise,  "  As  thy  days, 
so  shall  thy  strength  be." 

The  present  officers  are :  Pastor,  Kev.  Alonzo  S. 
Gray ;  elders,  William  B.  Marshall,  Samuel  E. 
Distance. 

TOME  STKEET  CHURCH. 

Some  fifty  years  ago  a  few  families  from 
Wales  landed  at  Locust  Point  seeking  for 
employment.  They  were  copper  molders  by 
trade,  and  when  the  large  copper  works  were 
established  in  Canton  they  crossed  the  bay  and 
were  employed  in  the  new  works.  They  brought 
with  them  their  religious  faith  and  the  memories 
of  their  Christian  homes.  From  time  to  time 
and  from  house  to  house,  they  gathered  together 
for  social  worship.  Finally  they  procured  a 
small  hall  where  they  established  a  Sunday- 
school  with  occasional  preaching  in  Welsh.  They 
belonged  to  different  denominations,  chiefly 
Methodists,  Baptists  and  Congregationalists.     In 


112  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

1865  thej  resolved  to  unite  and  build  a  church 
for  their  common  use.  The  Canton  company 
gave  them  a  lot,  and  poor  in  this  world's  goods 
but  rich  in  faith  and  abundant  in  labors  they 
began  to  build.  The  men  after  their  day's  work 
would  repair  to  the  building  and  often  at  mid- 
night on  moonlight  nights  were  seen  laboring 
upon  the  walls,  the  women  and  children  joining 
in  their  labors.     At  last  on  a  day  of  gladness  in 

1866  the  chapel  was  completed,  and  the  Sunday- 
school  opened  within  its  walls.  They  had  no 
ecclesiastical  organization  for  some  time,  but  Avere 
finally  organized  as  a  Congregational  Church 
under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Thomas  Richards,  a 
Welsh  Congregationalist.  Mr.  Richards  remained 
with  them  but  a  short  time.  On  his  leaving 
many  members  also  left  and  the  feeble  remnant 
were  discouraged  and  almost  despairing.  The 
church  building,  in  the  meantime  had  become 
so  dilapidated  as  to  be  unfit  for  use.  Mr.  J. 
Henry  Stickney,  so  well  known  in  the  Congre- 
gational Church,  for  his  good  works  came  for- 
ward and  repaired  and  renovated  the  building. 
On  reentering  the  chapel  the  Rev.  J.  Wynne 
Jones,  a  student  in  Princeton  Seminary,  was  in- 
vited to  take  charge  of  the  enterprise.  He 
preached  with  great  acceptance  alternately  in 
Welsh  and  English.  The  congregation  grew, 
and  in  April,  1878,  a  Presbyterian  church  was 


EIGHTY    YEARS.  113 

organized  with  twenty-three  members  and  the 
Rev.  J.  Wynne  Jones  was  called  as  their  pastor. 
He  Avas  installed  June  27th,  1878.  His  ministry 
was  blessed  and  in  a  little  time  the  chapel  be- 
came too  strait  for  their  growing  numbers. 

GRACE  CHURCH. 

A  mission  had  been  opened  by  some  members 
of  the  First  Church  west  of  Druid  Hill  Avenue. 
It  was  prospered  from  the  beginning,  and  in  a 
little  time  it  was  resolved  to  erect  a  building  for 
their  accommodation.  A  lot  was  secured  on  the 
corner  of  Dolphin  and  Etting  Streets,  and  the 
present  structure  was  erected  upon  it.  The  Rev. 
Mr.  Higgins  was  invited  to  take  charge  of  the 
enterprise,  and  served  for  some  years  with  great 
acceptance.  After  the  readjustments  which  took 
place  on  the  union  of  the  New  and  Old  Schools, 
the  building  was  finally  transferred  to  the  colored 
people.  The  Rev.  Charles  Hedges  had  gathered 
a  congregation  on  Linden  Avenue,  and  ministered 
to  them  for  some  years.  Chiefly  from  these 
Grace  Church  was  organized  October  12th,  1880, 
under  the  pastoral  care  of  the  Rev.  Charles 
Hedges.  The  congregation  from  its  origin  has 
labored  under  great  discouragements,  and  its 
financial  distresses  from  time  to  time  have  been 
extreme.     Mr.  Hedges   struggled  on  and  hoped 


114  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

on  until  1891,  when  he  resigned  to  occupy  an- 
other field. 

KEV.  EDWARD    F.    EGGLESTON. 

Mr.  Hedges  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  E.  F. 
Eggleston,  wlio  was  installed  October  18th,  1891. 
He  is  a  native  of  Amelia  County,  Ya.,  was  grad- 
uated with  high  honor  from  the  collegiate  de- 
partment of  Lincoln  University  in  1883,  and 
from  the  theological  department  in  1886.  He 
was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  the  church 
in  Oxford,  Pa.,  by  the  Presbytery  of  Chester. 
After  about  a  year's  service  there,  he  removed  to 
Danville,  Ya.,  where,  in  addition  to  serving  the 
church  successfully,  he  established  the  Danville 
Industrial  High-school,  which  has  proved  a  bene- 
diction, not  only  to  Danville,  but  to  all  the  sur- 
rounding region.  The  colored  churches  of  Bal- 
timore have  been  signally  favored  in  their  pas- 
tors. The  Master  has  sent  to  them  chosen  serv- 
ants furnished  abundantly  with  the  gifts  and 
graces  of  his  Spirit.  Most  of  them  men  of  edu- 
cation and  refinement,  they  have  been  called  to 
endure  hardness  almost  beyond  measure.  How 
often  the  hearts  of  those  w^ho  were  admitted  to 
their  confidence  have  bled  for  them,  and  how 
earnestly  they  have  prayed  that  the  Lord  would 
raise  up  for  them  friends  and  helpers. 

Not  the  least  among  these  in  talents  and  edu- 


EIGHTY    YEARS.  115 

cation  and  devotion  to  his  Master's  work  is 
Brother  Eggleston.  From  his  first  appearance 
he  won  the  hearts  of  his  brethren  by.  his  cordial 
greetings  and  brotherly  sympathies.  He  appre- 
ciates beyond  most  the  true  position  of  his  race 
and  the  exact  training  needful  for  their  elevation. 
He  is  laboring  to  make  Grace  Church  an  object 
lesson  to  all  the  churches  of  his  race  around. 
Under  his  pastorate  the  church  has  been  strength- 
ened and  enlarged.  A  heavy  debt,  soon  after 
his  coming,  Avas  lifted  off,  and  a  parsonage  was 
recently  purchased  and  presented  to  the  congre- 
gation by  the  munificence  of  Mr.  W.  W.  Spence. 
The  present  officers  are:  Pastor,  Kev.  E.  F. 
Eggleston ;  elders,  Charles  Davage,  G.  Merritt, 
Samuel  C.  O  wings,  Pratt  Wallace,  W.  G. 
Thomas,  S.  Stark. 

LAFAYETTE  SQUAEE  CHUECH. 

The  need  of  a  church  in  the  northwestern  part 
of  the  city  was  long  felt.  At  one  time  it  was 
proposed  to  build  the  Central  Church  in  that 
locality.  When  the  Central  finally  determined 
to  build  on  its  present  site,  measures  were  at 
once  taken  to  erect  a  church  building  on  Lafay- 
ette Square.  A  lot  was  procured  on  the  west 
side  of  the  square,  a  large  and  commodious  edi- 
fice was  erected,  and  opened  for  public  worship 
in  February,  1880.     The  church  was  organized 


116  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

on  the  23d  of  February,  1880,  with  Mr.  O.  F. 
Day  and  Y.  F.  Small,  Jr.,  as  elders.  The  Eev. 
Samuel  McLanahan  was  mimediately  called  as 
their  pastor  and  was  installed  in  May,  1880. 

EEV.    8AMUEL   McLANAIIAN. 

Eev.  Samuel  McLanahan  is  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania, was  graduated  at  Princeton  College  and 
Seminary,  licensed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Carlisle, 
ordained  by  the  same  Presbytery  in  June,  1877, 
and  served  the  church  of  Waynesboro,  Pa.,  as 
stated  pastor  and  supply  until  called  to  Balti- 
more. 

Brother  McLanahan  by  gifts  and  graces  is  di- 
vinely ordained  bishop.  He  does  not  bear  the 
title,  indeed,  nor  even  the  Presbyterian  title  of 
superintendent,  or  presbyterial  missionary.  He 
had  no  episcopal  designation  except  that  of 
chairman  of  home  missions.  But  his  services  as 
an  overseer  were  invaluable.  He  has  rare  exec- 
utive gifts,  both  as  an  organizer  and  adminis- 
trator. The  churches  of  the  Presbj^tery  of  Bal- 
timore never  had  such  efficient  episcopal  over- 
sight before.  During  the  short  time  when  he 
was  released  from  pastoral  care  he  devoted  him- 
self to  the  work  of  visitation  and  superin tendency. 
Feeble  churches  and  vacant  churches  and  vexed 
churches  and  unemployed  ministers,  all  Avho 
needed  a  wise  counselor  and  helpful  friend  found 


EIGHTY    YEARS.  117 

them  in  him.  Under  his  pastorate  Lafayette 
Square  Church  Avas  Avell  organized.  All  the  ap- 
pliances and  adjuncts  of  church  work  were  estab- 
lished on  true  foundations.  Having  served  this 
church  for  thirteen  years,  and  feeling  that  the 
Lord  had  need  of  him  elsewhere  the  pastoral 
relation,  at  his  request,  was  dissolved  July  1st, 
1893. 

REV.   ROBERT   J.    RANKIIS^. 

The  Eev.  E.  J.  Rankin  was  installed  as  the 
second  pastor  Kovember  28th,  1893.  He  was  a 
native  of  Maryland,  the  son  of  an  honored  elder, 
Samuel  J.  Eankin,  known  in  all  our  churches. 
Eobert  was  given  to  the  Lord  in  infancy  and 
was  brought  up  in  the  house  of  the  Lord.  In 
the  dew  of  his  youth  he  took  his  father's  God 
to  be  his  God,  and  gave  himself  to  his  service 
in  the  ministry.  He  was  educated  at  Princeton. 
Seldom  has  a  young  man  entered  upon  the  min- 
istry with  brighter  prospects  of  usefulness  and 
honor.  From  his  first  coming  he  won  the  hearts 
of  his  people  and  his  ministry  Avas  eminently 
fruitful.  As  a  preacher  he  had  that  peculiar 
nameless  something  which  we  sometimes  call 
magnetism  and  sometimes  unction.  But  wher- 
ever the  hiding  of  his  power  it  was  felt  in  souls 
saved  and  edified.  Suddenly  in  the  early  morn- 
ing of  his  years,  and  just  at  the  entrance  of  his 


118  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

work,  he  was  taken  away  by  death  on  the  morn- 
ing of  June  5th,  1891.  To  us  it  seems  that  his 
work  was  not  done,  but  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
a  premature  death  to  the  servant  of  God.  His 
work  on  earth  w^as  done,  his  crown  was  ready 
and  the  Master  had  need  of  him  for  the  higher 
service  above. 

REV.    LLEWELLYN   S.  FULMER. 

The  Rev.  L.  S.  Fuhiier,  the  present  pastor,  is  a 
native  of  Pennsylvania.  He  was  educated  at 
Princeton  and  installed  the  third  pastor,  June 
4:th,  1895.  He  is  a  diligent  student  and  instruct- 
ive preacher.  His  pulpit  he  makes  his  throne 
of  power ;  and  under  his  ministry  the  church  is 
prospered  and  built  up  in  grace  and  holiness. 

The  present  officers  are :  Pastor,  Rev.  Llewel- 
lyn S.  Fulmer;  elders,  W.  F.  Rogers,  E.  D. 
Freeman,  S.  M.  Rankin,  S.  R.  Hogg,  W.  J. 
Mackee. 

BOUNDARY  AYENUE  CHURCH. 

In  1878  some  Presbyterian  ladies  opened  a 
Sunday-school  on  the  corner  of  Maryland  and 
North  Avenues.  The  northern  section  of  the 
city  was  growing  rapidly  and  the  population  had 
already  overswept  what  was  long  known  in  fact, 
as  well  as  in  name,  as  the  Boundary.  The  school 
grew  rapidly  and  it  was  found  necessary  to  erect 


EIGHTY    YEAKS.  119 

a  chapel  for  its  accommodation.  Mrs.  Peyton 
Harrison  purchased  and  presented  a  lot  in  a  most 
commanding  situation  on  the  corner  of  North 
Avenue  and  St.  Paul  Street.  A  large  and  com- 
modious chapel,  a  Gothic  structure,  built  of  Bal- 
timore County  marble,  was  completed  and  occu- 
pied in  March,  1880.  The  congregation  grew 
rapidly  and  in  December,  1883,  it  was  resolved 
to  commence  the  erection  of  the  main  building 
which  was  speedily  completed. 

In  April,  1879,  articles  of  incorporation  of  the 
Boundary  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church  were 
issued  to  the  following  gentlemen :  W.  W. 
Spence,  J.  C.  Backus,  John  L.  Eeed,  W.  B.  Phil- 
lips, John  C.  Barckley,  E.  B.  Hunting,  E.  H. 
Perkins,  Jr.,  J.  Franklin  Dix,  Henry  D.  Harvey, 
Edmund  J.  Linn,  Albert  A.  Hassen  and  Kichard 
K.  Cross. 

The  church  was  organized  by  a  committee  of 
the  Presbytery  of  Baltimore  February  7th,  1880, 
with  eighteen  members  and  William  B.  Phillips, 
E.  K.  Cross,  elders ;  and  John  C.  Barckley  and 
Edward  F.  Arthurs,  deacons.  The  Eev.  George 
T.  Purves  was  called  as  pastor. 

REV.    GEORGE   T.    PURVES. 

Dr.  Purves  is  a  native  of  Philadelphia,  the  son 
of  an  honored  elder  in  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  of  that  city.    He  was  educated  at  Prince- 


120  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

ton  and  occupied  the  first  rank  for  talents  and 
scholarship.  He  has  been  eminently  successful  as 
preacher,  pastor  and  professor.  Under  his  pas- 
torate large  accessions  were  made  to  the  mem- 
bership. The  Sunday-school  and  all  the  societies 
and  helpers  of  church  work  were  in  successful 
operation,  when,  greatly  to  the  surprise  and  re- 
gret of  the  congregation,  he  announced  his  wish 
to  accept  a  call  which  had  been  tendered  him 
from  the  First  Church  of  Pittsburg.  The  pas- 
toral relation  w^as  dissolved  and  the  pulpit  de- 
clared vacant  June  19th,  188G. 

EEV.   WILLIAM   DURANT. 

Dr.  Purves  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  William 
Durant,  Avho  Avas  installed  June  21st,  1887.  He 
had  been  pastor  of  the  church  in  Morristown,  N. 
J.  He  had  been  blessed  in  his  ministry  there 
and  the  thoughts  of  the  congregation  were  early 
turned  to  him.  He  entered  upon  his  work  with 
earnestness,  but  for  reasons  which  seemed  imper- 
ative to  him,  asked  for  a  dismissal,  and  the  rela- 
tion was  dissolved  in  June,  1892. 

REV.    FRANK   E.    WILLIAMS. 

The  Rev.  Frank  E.  Williams  was  installed 
December  20th,  1893,  and  still  remains  pastor  of 
the  church.  Young,  ardent,  with  overflowing 
vitality,  under  his  pastorate  the   machinery  of 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  121 

church  Avork  is  energetically  conducted,  and  the 
church  abounds  in  works  of  faith  and  labors  of 
love.  He  is  an  earnest  preacher  of  the  glorious 
gospel  of  the  blessed  God.  The  church  is  blessed 
and  prospered  under  his  ministry. 

The  present  officers  of  the  church  are :  Eev. 
Frank  E.  Williams,  pastor ;  elders,  Kichard  K. 
Cross,  John  L.  Eeed,  J.  Hume  Smith,  T.  Mel- 
ville Prentiss,  Franklin  J.  Morton,  Charles  W. 
Wisner,  Albert  L.  Gardner ;  deacons,  A.  M.  Bas- 
table,  William  M.  Powell,  Edward  F.  Arthurs, 
George  H.  Porter,  J.  Kemp  Wysham,  Eugene  M. 
Hildermann,  William  G.  Garrett ;  trustees,  Reu- 
ben Foster,  William  M.  Powell,  George  B.  Hunt- 
ing, Hiram  H.  Taylor,  John  Murdock,  Oliver 
Hoblitzell,  Franklin  J.  Morton,  A.  M.  Bastable, 
Robert  S.  Cars  well,  William  H.  Bayliss,  Walter 
B.  Harvey,  and  Samuel  B.  Martz. 

ABBOTT  MEMORIAL  CHURCH. 

The  Abbott  Memorial  Church  is  located  on 
the  corner  of  Bank  Street  and  Highland  Avenue. 
It  grew  out  of  a  Sunday-school  which  had  been 
opened  on  Bank  Street,  in  1881.  It  was  organ- 
ized November  30th,  1882,  with  twenty -six  mem- 
bers, chiefly  from  the  Tome  Street  Church. 
John  Charles  and  George  Hughes  were  ordained 
elders,  and  James  T.  Hopkins  and  Charles  Be  van, 
deacons.     The   Rev.    J.   Wvnne    Jones   was   in- 


122  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

stalled  as  pastor,  December  10th,  18S3,  where  he 
continues  to  this  day  indefatigable  in  labors, 
ardent  in  zeal,  a  minister  of  mercy  to  the  poor 
and  a  benediction  to  the  whole  community 
around. 

It  is  called  Abbott  Memorial  for  Mr.  Horace 
Abbott.  He  was  for  many  years  one  of  the 
trustees  of  the  Second  Church,  ever  ready  with 
his  money  and  his  influence  to  advance  its  in- 
terest. He  established  the  large  iron  works  in 
Canton,  known  as  the  Abbott  Iron  Company, 
where  so  many  years  of  his  life  were  passed,  and 
his  own  fortune  and  the  fortune  of  others  were 
made.  He  and  his  family  desired  to  erect  in 
that  locality  some  more  lasting  memorial  than 
the  works,  which  already  bore  his  name,  and  the 
Abbott  Memorial  Church  stands  as  that  memorial 
to-day.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Abbott  gave  $29,000,  Mr. 
Mrs.  and  John  S.  Oilman,  $8,000,  for  the  build- 
ing and  parsonage.  Mr.  George  H.  Brown,  and 
others,  purchased  the  lots  for  $6,400. 

The  present  officers  are :  Rev.  J.  Wynne  Jones, 
pastor ;  elders,  Edward  Clark,  Cyrus  Copper, 
Enoch  Bowen,  Joseph  T.  Wiley,  Enoch  Webb, 
Absalom  McYey,  George  Kane,  Eobert  McDan- 
iels. 

FAITH  CHURCH. 
Faith  Church,  like  Westminster,  stands  in  the 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  123 

midst  of  God's  Acre,  the  burial  place  of  the 
Second,  as  Westminster  of  the  First  Church.  In 
1ST6,  some  members  of  the  First  Church  desired 
to  establish  a  mission  Sunday-school  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  cemetery.  They  rented,  and 
fitted  up  for  the  purpose,  an  old  blacksmith  shop 
on  the  corner  of  Gay  and  Chase  Streets.  In 
January,  a  Sunday-school  was  organized  with 
John  Y.  L.  Graham  and  E.  H.  Perkins,  superin- 
tendents, and  the  school  was  opened  February 
2d,  1876.  The  growth  of  the  school  was  phenom- 
enal, increasing  from  year  to  year,  till  in  1887, 
it  reached  the  number  of  1,629.  On  April  18th, 
the  Eev.  J.  W.  Mcllvane  conducted  the  first 
preaching  service,  and  this  was  continued  from 
time  to  time,  by  the  several  ministers  of  the  city. 
The  large  increase  in  the  school  demanded  larger 
accommodations,  and  it  Avas  proposed  if  practi- 
cable to  erect  a  chapel  on  the  adjoining  burying 
ground.  The  trustees  of  the  Second  Church 
conveyed  the  ground  to  the  Presbyterian  Asso- 
ciation, and  the  Association  authorized  the  build- 
ing of  the  chapel,  which  opened  for  public 
worship  under  the  name  of  the  Faith  Chapel  of 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  and  the  Rev. 
John  P.  Campbell,  just  graduated  from  Princeton 
Seminary,  was  invited  to  take  charge  of  the 
enterprise.  In  a  little  time  the  congregation  had 
outgrown  the  chapel,  and  it  was  resolved  to  at- 


124  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

tempt  the  erection  of  a  large  stone  church  ah:nig- 
side.  In  January,  IS 82,  a  building  committee 
was  appointed,  consisting  of  George  S.  Brown, 
John  Y.  L.  Graham,  John  L.  Keed,  Robert  H. 
Smith,  and  J.  P.  Campbell.  The  church  build- 
ing was  opened  for  public  Avorship,  November  2d, 
1884.  The  tower  was  erected  in  1885,  by  George 
H.  Brown,  as  a  memorial  of  his  mother,  Mrs. 
Isabella  Brown.  For  ten  years  it  had  been  con- 
ducted as  a  mission  of  the  First  Church.  On 
November  8th,  1880,  Faith  Church  Avas  organ- 
ized by  a  committee  of  the  Presbytery  of  Bal- 
timore with  300  communicants.  Martin  B. 
Billingslea,  and  John  Donn,  Avere  ordained  eld- 
ers ;  E.  A.  Alexander,  D.  P.  Brown,  Dixon  Guy, 
Theophilus  Hill,  and  Edward  Hyde,  deacons. 
The  church  Avas  incorporated  in  March,  1895,  and 
the  buildings  and  lot  Avere  conveyed  by  the 
Presbyterian  Association  to  the  trustees  of  Faith 
Presbyterian  Church. 

KEY.  JOHN  p.  CAMPBELL. 

On  November  28th,  1886,  the  Rev.  John  P. 
Campbell,  Avho  had  so  long  served  the  congre- 
gation, Avas  called  as  their  pastor,  and  Avas  in- 
stalled the  December  following.  The  Rev.  John 
P.  Campbell  is  a  native  of  Caledonia,  N.  Y.,  AA^as 
educated  at  Princeton,  and  ordained  by  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Rochester.     He  is  a  model  pastor  and 


EIGHTY    YEAKS.  125 

an  instructive  preacher.  Under  his  efficient 
leadership  the  congregation  from  the  first  grew 
rapidly  in  numbers  and  abounded  in  good  works. 
It  has  become  one  of  the  largest  churches  in 
the  city,  and  its  influence  for  good  is  felt  in  the 
whole  community  around.  Its  present  member- 
ship is  569.  Nine  hundred  and  twenty  were 
added  on  examination,  and  21:6  by  certificate, 
during  his  twenty  years'  labor.  Brother  Camp, 
bell  has  become  the  patriarch  of  the  Presbytery. 
While  repeated  changes  have  been  taking  place 
all  around  him  he  still  stands  in  his  lot,  his  in- 
fluence growing  with  every  passing  yeiir.  The 
present  officers  are :  Eev.  John  P.  Campbell,  pas- 
tor ;  elders,  M.  B.  Billingslea,  M.  D.,  Dixon  Guy, 
Theophilus  Hill,  and  Edward  Hyde ;  deacons, 
Dixon  Guy,  Theophilus  Hill,  Edward  Hyde, 
George  C.  Diggs,  and  Oliver  AY.  Cummings. 

FULTON"  AYEKUE  CHURCH. 

Fulton  Avenue  Church  is  located  on  North  Ful- 
ton Avenue,  near  the  railroad  station.  It  grew 
out  of  a  Sunday-school  established  in  the  neigh- 
borhood and  conducted  largely  by  members  of 
the  Lafayette  Square  Church.  The  school  grew 
in  numbers  and  the  Presbyterian  families  in  the 
vicinity  thought  the  field  an  inviting  one.  A 
church  Avas  organized  with  twenty-three  commu- 


126  EIGHTY    YEAKS. 

nicants  and  one  elder  in  November,  1SS6,  and  a 
commodious  church  building  was  erected. 

REV.  EDWARD  II.  R0B13INS. 

The  Eev.  Edward  H.  Bobbins  was  called  and 
installed  as  their  first  pastor.  He  is  a  native  of 
Baltimore,  esteemed  for  his  own  sake,  and  his 
father's  sake.  He  was  educated  at  Princeton, 
and  the  church  under  his  able  preaching  and  wise 
and  sympathetic  oversight,  with  the  cooperation 
of  a  band  of  noble  helpers,  has  grown  constantly 
and  healthfully  in  numbers  and  influence  and 
usefulness.  The  Sunday-school  has  been  con- 
ducted with  marked  efliciency,  and  has  been,  not 
in  name  onl^^  but  in  reality,  the  nursery  of  the 
church.  The  people  of  Fulton  Avenue  Church 
have  been  fruitful  in  good  works,  and  earnest  in 
their  efi'orts  to  carry  the  blessings  of  the  gospel 
into  the  regions  beyond.  The  present  officers 
are:  Pastor,  Eev.  Edward  H.  Bobbins;  elders, 
George  H.  Conn,  James  L.  Bidgel}^,  Henry  A. 
Burroughs,  E.  AYesley  Hale,  Benjamin  F.  Clark, 
George  B.  M.  Fosnot. 

CHUBCH  OF  THE  COYEXANT. 

This  church  owes  its  existence  to  the  unfalter- 
ing faith  and  self-denying  labors  of  the  Bev. 
William  L.  Austin.  His  heart  was  moved  by  the 
spectacle  of  the  spiritual  destitution  of  a  large 


EIGHTY   YEAKS.  127 

and  neglected  portion  of  the  city.  As  he  Avan- 
dered  through  its  streets  and  alleys  and  saw  how 
many  were  perishing  for  lack  of  vision,  he  re- 
solved to  devote  himself  to  the  work  of  giving  to 
them  the  gospel.  Alone,  but  cheered  by  the 
sympathy  of  a  few  faithful  friends,  he  procured 
a  little  hall  on  the  corner  of  Fulton  Avenue  and 
Pratt  Street,  and  commenced  preaching  there  to 
a  little  congregation  of  fourteen.  A  Sabbath- 
school  was  at  once  organized  with  some  forty 
scholars.  The  work  prospered,  and  the  time  at 
last  came  for  the  planting  of  a  church.  It  was 
organized  November  29th,  18S9,  under  the  name 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  Covenant. 
For  about  a  year  they  continued  to  worsliip  in 
Radcliff's  hall,  when  the  place  became  too  strait 
for  them,  and  a  larger  hall  was  procured  on  the 
corner  of  Lombard  and  Strieker  Streets.  The 
present  building  on  the  corner  of  Strieker  and 
Hollins  Streets  was  opened  January,  1883.  The 
Rev.  William  L.  Austin  was  installed  the  first 
pastor  December  8, 1894-,  and  continued  the  work 
he  had  thus  far  carried  on  in  the  face  of  manifold 
hindrances.  There  was  something  sublime  in  his 
faith  and  constancy  and  unwavering  trust  in  the 
Everlasting  Arm.  His  brethren,  who  knew  his 
heart  and  shared  his  counsels  in  those  dark  days, 
found  an  inspiration  in  his  patient  waiting  and  un- 
Avavering  faith.     On  September  11th,  1896,  Avhen 


128  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

the  wilderness  was  passed,  and  the  promised  land 
Avas  in  sight,  he  died  in  the  vigor  of  his  y^arsand 
the  midst  of  his  usefulness,  for  the  Master  had 
use  for  him,  too,  above.  His  mantle  fell  upon  his 
successor,  the  present  pastor,  the  Kev.  Henry  S. 
Graham,  who  has  taken  up  his  unfinished  work 
of  making  the  Church  of  the  Covenant  a  light 
and  a  blessing  to  the  region  around.  The  pres- 
ent officers  are:  Pastor,  Rev.  Henry  S.  Graham; 
elders,  H.  S.  Sohl,  Joseph  Cowman,  George  L. 
H.  Krise. 

BOHEMIAJST  CHURCH. 

In  the -fall  of  1889,  the  session  of  Faith  Church 
gave  the  use  of  their  chapel  to  a  number  of  Bo- 
hemians residing  in  the  vicinity,  who  desired  a 
place  in  which  to  hold  religious  services  in  their 
own  language.  The  first  service  was  held  in  the 
Bohemian  language  December  2,  1889.  On  Jan- 
uary 26th,  1890,  Rev.  Vincent  Pisek,  of  the  Bo- 
hemian Presbyterian  Church,  New  York  city, 
preached  to  an  audience  of  seventy  persons  and 
administered  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
to  fifty-five  communicants.  The  work  was  con- 
ducted under  the  care  of  the  session  of  Faith 
Church,  who  in  every  way  encouraged  and  helped 
the  enterprise.  The  Bohemian  Church  was  or- 
ganized by  the  Presbytery  of  Baltimore  April 
22d,  1890.     Rev.  Vaclav  Losa  was  installed  the 


EIGHTY    YEARS.  129 

first  pastor,  but  resigned  to  accept  the  charge  of 
a  church  in  Clarkson,  Neb.  He  was  succeeded 
by  the  present  pastor,  the  Eev.  Y.  Vanek.  The 
congregation  had  the  free  use  of  Faith  Chapel 
until  a  lot  was  purchased  by  the  Presbyterian 
Association,  on  which  a  church  was  erected  and 
opened  for  public  worship  October  16th,  1898,  in 
the  presence  of  a  large  and  deeply  interested  con- 
gregation. They  have  at  present  five  elders,  four 
deacons,  eighty-nine  communicants,  162  Sabbath- 
school  scholars — the  descendants  of  martyrs,  the 
countrymen  of  Jerome  and  Huss,  inheritors  of 
the  blessings  purchased  by  the  blood  of  a  noble 
ancestry ! 

PAEK  CHUECH. 

Park  Church  grew  out  of  a  mission  established 
by  Brown  Memorial  Church  on  Druid  Hill  Ave- 
nue, near  the  Boundary.  The  population  was 
growing  rapidly  in  that  region,  and  the  mission 
increased  with  it.  As  there  was  no  church  in  the 
immediate  vicinity,  it  was  resolved  to  erect  a 
building  and  organize  a  church.  A  lot  was  pro- 
cured on  the  corner  of  North  and  Madison  Ave- 
nues, and  a  large  and  commodious  chapel  was 
erected  upon  it.  The  building  was  completed 
and  occupied  April  15th,  1893,  and  on  the  30th 
of  May  following,  the  church  was  organized  with 
some  twenty-five  members  from  the  Brown  Me- 


130  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

morial  Church.  They  procured  the  services  of  the 
Rev.  George  L.  Curtis,  who  had  just  completed 
his  theological  studies  and  been  ordained  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Rochester.  Brother  Curtis  is  an 
earnest  and  eminently  evangelical  preacher. 
Park  Church  more  nearly  approaches  the  ideal 
of  an  institutional  church  than  any  others.  Its 
boys'  brigade  and  societies  of  different  kinds  are 
conducted  with  great  vigor,  and  the  church 
abounds  in  Christian  activities  of  every  kind. 
Its  membership  has  grown  and,  in  every  respect, 
it  has  been  prospered.  Though  from  the  begin- 
ning, largely  helped  and  supported  by  the  Brown 
Memorial  Church,  it  has  been  an  independent 
organization,  and  its  members  have  never  ap- 
peared on  the  roll  of  the  Brown  Memorial  Church. 
The  present  officers  of  the  church  are :  Rev. 
George  L.  Curtis,  pastor ;  elders.  Dr.  James  H. 
Frazer,  Edward  Stinson,  Alfred  ISTiles,  A.  B. 
Crane;  deacons,  Charles  A.  Hook  and  James 
Shriver. 

RIDGLEY  STREET  CHURCH. 

In  18G5,  Mrs.  "William  Reynolds,  and  Mrs.  Sarah 
Colvin,  with  other  noble  Avomen  of  the  Central 
Church,  resolved  to  establish  a  mission  in  south- 
western Baltimore.  The  Central  Church,  then 
on  Liberty  Street,  looked  out  on  a  Avide  field  of 
destitution  in  that  direction.     The  services  of  a 


EIGHTY    YEARS.  131 

devoted  woman,  Miss  Mary  Nehmyer,  were  se- 
cured to  explore  the  field.  It  Avas  found  that  a 
brick  chapel  on  the  corner  of  Eidgiey  and  Ham- 
burg Streets,  which  had  been  erected  by  the  Co- 
lumbia Street  Methodist  Church,  could  be  pur- 
chased. It  was  procured,  and  a  Sunday-school 
was  at  once  opened  within  its  walls.  Superin- 
tendent and  teachers  were  supplied  from  the  Cen- 
tral Church.  The  chapel,  especially  after  the  re- 
moval of  the  church  to  Eutaw  Place,  was  far  off,, 
and  for  a  time  difficult  of  access,  but  for  more 
than  thirty  years,  in  summer  and  winter,  in  sun- 
shine and  storm,  those  devoted  officers  and  teach- 
ers were  always  found  in  their  place.  I  thought 
of  giving  their  names,  but  the  list  is  too  long. 
They  are  known  in  heaven  and  enshrined  in 
many  grateful  hearts  on  earth.  T^ie  school  grew, 
the  population  around  it  increased  till  the  chapel 
became  too  small.  In  1890  it  was  taken  down 
and  the  erection  of  the  church  commenced.  On 
the  following  October  the  Sunday-school  room 
was  ready  for  use,  and  in  Xovember,  1892,  the 
basement  was  completed.  Services  Avere  held  in 
it  until  January,  1896,  when  the  main  auditorium 
was  completed.  It  is  a  large,  imposing  stone 
building,  an  ornament  to  the  neighborhood,  and 
a  monument  of  the  faith  and  labors  of  its  build- 
ers. The  names  of  Eeynolds,  Colvin,  Hall,  Tyson, 
McElmoyle,  Beatson,  Hose,  Deitscli,  Dailey,  Gra- 


132  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

ham,  and  many  names  beside,  are  written  in  in- 
delible, if  invisible  ink,  on  its  foundation  stones. 
For  several  years  a  preaching  service  was  main- 
tained in  the  chapel  from  time  to  time,  and  con- 
tinuously, for  several  years,  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Coyle,  of  Washington,  D.  C.  In  1892,  it  Avas 
felt  that  the  time  was  come  for  the  organization 
of  a  church,  and  in  October  of  that  year  it  was 
organized  with  ninety-two  members,  whose  names 
up  to  that  time  had  been  on  the  roll  of  the  Cen- 
tral Church.  The  Eev.  Edward  E.  Weaver  Avas 
called  and  installed  pastor  October,  1892. 

REV.    EDWARD   E.    WEAVER. 

He  w^as  born  in  Canton,  Ohio,  June  10th,  1864, 
was  graduated  at  Wooster  University,  and  studied 
theology  at  Princeton.  Brother  Weaver  has  done 
a  great  and  good  work  for  Ridgley  Street  Church. 
It  was  a  formidable  •  undertaking,  under  the  ex- 
isting conditions,  to  attempt  the  erection  of  so 
large  and  costly  a  building,  and  brother  Weaver 
gave  himself  to  the  work  with  tireless  energy. 
Courteous  and  kind  and  wise,  while  intensely 
earnest,  he  has  secured  sympathy  and  help  from 
all  quarters.  He  has  labored  on  amidst  difficul- 
ties and  discouragements  with  whole-hearted  de- 
votion, and  can  to-day  rejoice  in  the  fruit  of  his 
labors.  Where  so  many  have  done  well,  he  has 
labored  more  abundantly  than  they  all.     He  has 


EIGHTY   YEARS.  133 

served  the  church  for  nearly  ten  years,  and  we 
trust  the  time  has  come  Avhen  he  can  rejoice  in 
the  gathering  in  of  the  sheaves.  The  present 
officers  are:  Pastor,  Rev.  Edward  E.  Weaver; 
elders,  Eichard  Schroeder,  Henry  Ebert,  Richard 
Spencer,  Jr.,  Frank  Walter. 

CRISP  MEMORIAL  CHURCH. 

Mr.  Richard  O.  Crisp,  a  member  of  the  Central 
Church,  for  years  resided  near  Brooklyn.  During 
the  later  years  of  his  life  he  became  greatly  in- 
terested in  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  commu- 
nity in  which  he  had  so  long  resided.  He  re- 
solved as  the  best  legacy  he  could  leave  to  them, 
and  the  best  testimony  he  could  give  of  his  own 
personal  faith  in  the  gospel  of  Christ,  to  erect  a 
church  in  or  near  Brooklyn.  By  provision  of  his 
will  the  sum  of  $50,000  was  left  for  this  purpose, 
and  his  wife,  Mrs.  Annie  Crisp,  and  his  brother, 
were  named  as  trustees  to  erect  the  building,  and 
when  completed  to  convey  it  to  the  trustees  of 
the  Central  Church  as  a  branch  of  that  church. 
A  beautiful  stone  church  and  parsonage  Avere 
erected  on  the  most  commanding  site  in  the 
vicinity.  The  church  was  opened  with  appropriate 
services  May  13th,  1888.  The  property  was  con- 
veyed to  the  Central  Church,  the  session  of 
which  by  the  terms  of  the  will  took  charge 
of   the   work;  a   Sunday-school   was   organized, 


134  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

and  the  Rev.  Charles  E.  Fisk  was  engaged  to 
supply  a  i^egular  preaching  service.  The  Crisp 
Memorial  Church  was  organized  under  the  pas- 
toral care  of  the  Rev.  William  L.  Parsons, 
May  4th,  1893.  He  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Adams,  and  he  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  L. 
Springer,  the  present  pastor.  The  trustees  did 
not  confine  their  expenditures  to  the  amount  of 
the  legacy,  but  Mrs.  Crisp  has  added  to  it  largely, 
and  provided  everything  needful  to  carry  out  the 
plan  in  which  she  so  heartily  sympathizes.  The 
church  is  an  ornament  to  the  neighborhood,  and 
is  surrounded  by  a  population  exposed  to  peculiar 
perils  because  of  the  summer  resorts  open  there. 
Not  the  members  of  the  Central  Church  alone, 
but  the  whole  community  around  unite  in  prayer 
to  God  to  bless  and  prosper  the  Crisp  Memorial 
Church. 

REID  MEMORIAL  HOPE  INSTITUTE 
SUKDAY-SCHOOL. 

In  1887  the  First  Church  opened  a  Sunday- 
school  in  the  eastern  section  of  the  city  near 
the  corner  of  Harford  Avenue  and  Madison 
Street.  The  school  grew  rapidly  in  numbers 
and  a  preaching  service  was  instituted  which 
has  been  maintained  ever  since.  A  building  was 
erected  for  the  service  of  the  school  by  Andrew 
Reid,  Esq.,  and  on  the  31st  of  March,  1895,  the 


EIGHTY    YEARS.  135 

building  was  completed  and  presented  to  the 
First  Church.  The  Institute  at  present  is  served 
by  the  Eev.  William  Caldwell.  Situated  as  it  is 
in  a  comparatively  destitute  neighborhood,  under 
Brother  Caldwell's  ministry  its  influence  for  good 
has  been  felt  in  the  entire  community. 


APPENDIX. 


SPIPJTUAL  COKDITIOK  AND  PEOGEESS 
OF  THE  CHUECHES. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  spiritual  con- 
dition of  the  churches  in  Baltimore  during  the 
first  sixty  years  of  their  existence.  They  had 
not  yet  attained  to  the  idea  of  the  Church  as  a 
free  spiritual  commonwealth,  distinct  from  all 
Avorldly  kingdoms  and  secular  associations. 
They  tried  to  perpetuate  in  the  new  world  the 
State  Church  of  the  old  and  labored  to  join  to- 
gether what  God  had  ordained  should  be  kept 
asunder.  The  Church  Avas  a  civil  corporation 
created  by  the  State  and  regulated  by  law.  Its 
members  were  stockholders  in  the  corporation 
and  its  officers,  like  the  directors  in  other  cor- 
porations, were  elected  by  them  and  responsible 
only  to  them.  True,  it  Avas  a  religious  corpora- 
tion, but  no  religious  qualification  was  required 
either  of  its  oificei's  or  members.  Its  officers 
Avere  not  ordained  or  responsible  to  any  higher 
authority.  Its  members  AA^ere  not  required  to 
profess  repentance  toAA^ard  God  and  faith  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  A  Avorldly  morality,  embod- 
ied in  a  reputable  life,  AA^as  the  only  condition  of 
church   membership.     The   spiritualities  of   the 

137 


188  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

kingdom  had  faded  almost  entirely  away  and 
the  dividing  line  between  the  Church  and  world 
was  almost  ol)literated. 

In  this  regard,  the  condition  of  the  Baltimore 
churches  was  precisely  that  of  all  American 
churches  some  fifty  years  before.  At  that 
time  religion  had  sunk  to  its  lowest  ebb,  the 
gloomy  night  of  Pharisaic  Judaism  "having  a 
form  of  godliness  but  denying  the  power 
thereof"  had  settled  down  upon  the  Church. 
The  vine3^ard  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  as  in  the  pro- 
phetic vision,  had  its  hedges  all  broken  down  and 
its  pleasant  things  all  laid  waste.  It  was  the 
valley  of  dry  bones  with  scarce  a  sign  or  move- 
ment of  spiritual  life.  It  was  time  for  God  to 
work,  for  vain  was  the  help  of  man.  In  the 
very  darkest  hour,  the  Lord  raised  up  another 
John  Baptist,  and  sent  him  forth.  "  The  voice 
of  one  crying  in  the  Avilderness,  prepare  ye  the 
way  of  the  Lord.  Kepent :  for  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  at  hand."  New  England,  at  that 
time,  had  imprisoned  the  faith  and  almost  for- 
gotten the  ^God  of  her  Puritan  fathers.  The 
Church  had*  well  nigh  ceased  to  be  a  spiritual 
commonwealth,  and  the  ways  of  Zion  mourned. 
In  an  obscure  village  of  New  England,  the  Lord 
raised  up  Jonathan  Edwards  to  utter  in  the  wil- 
derness the  Baptist's  call  to  repentance.  In  1734 
he  preached  his  celebrated  sermon  on  Justifica- 
tion by  Faith.  We  read  that  sermon  to-day  and 
w^onder  where  was  the  hiding  of  its  poAver.  But 
the  preaching  of  the  old  doctrine  by  which  Paul 
startled  a  dying  Avorld,  and  Luther  electrified  a 
sleeping  church,  shook  New  England  as  it  had 


APPENDIX.  139 

never  been  shaken  before.  Men  were  startled 
as  by  a  trumpet  blast  from  their  sleep  of  world- 
liness  and  carnal  security,  and  the  powers  of  the 
world  to  come  took  hold  upon  them.  False 
hopes  in  their  own  righteousness  were  every- 
where flung  away,  and  men  everywhere  began 
to  call  upon  the  Lord.  The  great  truths  of  sal- 
vation as  formulated  by  Edwards  were  taken  up 
by  the  Tenants,  and  Blair,  and  a  great  company 
besides,  and  proclaimed  throughout  New  York, 
and  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  and  Georgia, 
and  everywhere  churches  were  revived,  and  souls 
in  uncounted  numbers  brought  home  to  God. 
But,  strangely,  while  showers  of  blessing  were 
falling  all  around,  Baltimore  had  no  share  in  the 
blessed  baptism.  Again  darkness  fell  upon  the 
churches,  for  the  history  of  the  American  Church 
is  one  of  alternate  declension  and  revival,  and 
again  God  visited  them  with  power  from  on 
high.  The  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  was  given 
back  to  the  Church  and  proclaimed  from  all 
its  pulpits,  but,  strangely,  the  preaching  of  the 
truth  had  lost  its  old  power.  To  some  it  was 
but  as  sounding  brass  or  a  tinkling  cymbal,  to 
others  but  a  savor  of  death  unto  death.  The 
preaching  of  the  truth  was  in  itself  found  to 
be  powerless  to  save,  and  again  the  Lord  came 
forth  out  of  his  place  and  the  Spirit  descended 
in  those  wonderful  revivals  which  we  have  al- 
ready spoken  of,  extending  all  over  the  East  and 
beyond  the  Alleghenies,  all  over  the  settled 
West,  renewing  the  wonders  of  Pentecost.  But, 
strangely  again,  Baltimore  Avas  passed  by,  and 
had  no  share  in  the  blessings.     But  the  time. 


140  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

even  the  set  time  to  favor  her,  at  last  came. 
AVe  have  already  spoken  of  that  wonderful  ser- 
mon of  Dr.  jS^evins,  and  its  Pentecostal  effects. 
The  isolation  of  the  Baltimore  churches  was 
now  over,  and  the  Moderates  so  long  in  the 
ascendant,  were  succeeded  by  the  Evangelicals. 
Baptized  by  the  same  Spirit,  Baltimore  entered 
into  the  communion  of  saints  and  thenceforth 
shared  in  the  blessings  of  the  common  Father's 
household. 

For  a  time  after  their  Pentecost,  the  churches 
of  Baltimore  walked  in  the  light  of  God's  coun- 
tenance and  rejoiced  in  the  manifold  tokens  of 
his  favor.  There  was  a  glorious  summer  of  sun- 
shine and  gladness,  and  this  again  was  followed 
by  a  dreary  winter.  The  spirit  of  Avorldliness 
came  in  to  grieve  away  the  Divine  Spirit.  Just 
at  that  time  men  were  beginning  to  enter  into 
possession  of  the  broad  inheritance  which  God 
had  given  them.  Plains  and  prairies,  mountains 
and  valleys,  were  giving  up  their  hidden  treas- 
ures. Exhaustless  riches  waited  for  him  who 
should  gather  them,  and  as  new  Calif ornias  were 
discovered  all  hasted  to  be  rich  and  Mammon  be- 
came the  god  of  the  nation's  idolatry.  Just  then 
in  the  full  noon  of  their  worldly  prosperity  there 
came  suddenly,  as  an  earthquake  or  a  bolt  from 
heaven  in  a  clear  sky,  the  great  commercial  panic 
of  1S57.  Eiches  made  to  themselves  wings,  values 
melted  away,  and  all  conlidence  was  gone.  The 
rich  man  of  to-day  found  himself  a  beggar  to- 
morrow, and  the  man  just  reaching  out  his  hand 
to  grasp  the  golden  prize  saw  it  turn  into  worth- 
less dross.     On  every  side  men   with   pale  lips 


APPENDIX.  141 

and  despairing  accents  were  heard  exclaiming 
"  Ye  have  taken  away  my  gods  which  I  have 
made  and  Avhat  have  I  more  ?  " 

What  shall  they  do,  where  shall  they  look  fof 
help?  With  these  anxious  questions  on  their 
lips  three  men  met  in  a  street  in  Xew  York,  in 
the  business  center  of  the  city  and  in  the  busiest 
hour  of  the  day.  As  they  talked  together  one 
said :  "  We  have  exhausted  all  our  resources  and 
vain  is  the  help  of  man.  Let  us  call  upon  God 
and  perhaps  he  will  hear  and  answer."  They 
turned  aside  into  a  little  room  and  poured  out 
their  hearts  in  prayer.  Parting,  they  agreed  to 
meet  on  the  next  day  and  at  the  same  hour. 
When  they  came  together  three  others  had 
joined  their  company.  Day  after  day  the  num- 
bers increased  until  the  room  became  too  small. 
Then  they  repaired  to  the  old  John  Street 
Church,  and  that  was  soon  filled  to  overflow- 
ing. They  then  went  to  Burton's  theater,  the 
largest  building  in  the  city.  That,  too,  was  soon 
found  too  small,  for  never  did  Booth  or  Forrest 
in  their  palmy  days  attract  such  crowds  as  gath- 
ered in  that  old  theater  to  pray.  Merchants, 
bankers,  brokers  left  their  desks,  to  go  and  call 
upon  the  Lord.  All  over  tlie  city,  halls,  theaters, 
churches  were  open  for  prayer  exery  day  and  at 
almost  every  hour  of  the  dav.  Xever  before 
had  such  a  spectacle  been  witnessed. 

The  scenes  witnessed  in  Kew  York  were  re- 
peated in  all  the  cities  and  villages  of  the  land 
from  Main  to  Nebraska.  It  was  said  that  one 
could  go  from  Xew  York  to  Nebraska,  then  the 
western  boundary,  and  not  pass  through  a  town 


142  EIGHTY   YEAKS. 

or  city  on  the  way  where  the  voice  of  prayer 
was  not  heard.  It  was  what  Zacharias  saw  long 
before  in  visions.  "  The  inhabitants  of  one  city 
shall  go  to  another,  saying,  let  us  go  speedily  to 
pray  before  the  Lord.  1  will  go  also."  New 
York  called  to  Buffalo,  and  Buffalo  to  Chicago, 
and  Chicago  to  8t.  Louis,  and  St.  Louis  to  Cin- 
cinnati, and  Cincinnati  to  Pittsburg,  and  Pitts- 
burg to  Philadelphia,  and  Philadelphia  to  Balti- 
more, "Let  us  go  speedily  to  pray  before  the 
Lord." 

The  spirit  of  prayer  fell  upon  Baltimore  in 
measure  never  witnessed  before.  Lecture  rooms, 
chapels,  churches,  were  all  crowded  as  each  fam- 
ily prayed  apart.  The  Mechanic's  Institute,  the 
largest  hall  in  the  city,  its  whole  floor  thrown 
open,  was  crowded  day  after  day,  with  men  who 
came  together  to  pray.  There  was  no  Edwards, 
or  Whitfield,  or  Moody,  or  evangelist  of  any 
name,  to  preach.  The  multitude  came,  not  to 
hear  but  to  pray.  Sometimes  a  brief  word  of 
exhortation  was  heard  from  Dr.  Dickson  or 
Alexander  Carter  or  some  one  of  kindred  spirit, 
but  only  as  an  incitement  to  continue  prayer. 

There  was  a  marked  progression  in  these  three 
visitations  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  First,  he  came 
as  the  Spirit  of  truth  to  magnify  the  truth  and 
make  its  preaching  the  great  instrument  of  sal- 
vation. The  kingdom  was  advanced  and  souls 
were  sanctified  by  the  truth.  But  the  truth  in 
time,  lost  its  power,  and  preaching  almost  ceased 
to  edify  the  church  or  bring  souls  to  the  Saviour. 
The  truth  in  itself  was  seen  to  be  powerless. 
Then  the  Holy  Spirit  was  given  and  the  truth 


APPENDIX.  143 

once  more  became  quick  and  powerful  and 
mighty  through  God.  The  churches  now  have 
the  truth  as  the  instrument  and  the  Holy  Spirit 
as  the  agent,  to  make  it  effectual.  But  a  third 
thing  remains.  How  can  the  church  reach  up  to 
the  Divine  Spirit  and  secure  his  presence  and 
power.  The  answer  was  found  in  these  meet- 
ings for  prayer  and  the  power  of  prayer  was 
gloriously  displa3^ed. 

These  prayer  meetings  had  a  marked  influence 
on  the  religious  life  of  Baltimore  and  left  a  last- 
ing blessing  behind.  They  increased  the  faith  of 
God's  people  in  the  efficacy  of  prayer,  and  for 
years  following  prayer  meetings  Avere  continued 
with  a  frequency  never  known  before.  Weeks 
of  prayer  were  frequently  held  in  the  large  base- 
ment of  the  old  Central  Church  where  all  the 
rooms  were  thrown  open  and  were  crowded  with 
devout  congregations  from  day  to  day.  Requests 
for  prayer  would  be  read  from  mothers  for  sick 
or  profligate  sons,  from  wives  for  their  godless 
husbands,  from  children  for  their  parents,  from 
parents  for  their  children,  from  friends  for  their 
unconverted  friends.  Of  course  no  names  were 
mentioned,  but  sometimes  the  intense  earnestness 
of  the  writer  so  breathed  in  every  word,  and  the 
case  Avas  so  clearly  and  pathetically  described, 
that  the  whole  assembly  would  be  moved.  Some- 
times answers  to  prayers,  previously  offered, 
would  be  read  and  the  gladness  of  the  writer's 
heart  would  move  the  Avhole  congregation  to  rise 
up  and  sing,  "  Praise  God,  from  Avhom  all  blessings 
flow."  Those  prayer  meetings,  in  the  old  Central 
Church,  can   never  be  forgotten  by  those  who 


144  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

witnessed  them.  Sometimes  all  day  union 
prayer  meetings  would  be  held,  commencing  at  an 
early  hour,  sometimes  at  sunrise ;  they  were  con- 
tinued all  through  the  day  and  evening,  every 
hour  a  new  leader  taking  charge.  They  were 
distinctively  meetings  for  prayer.  The  leader 
would  open  the  hour  by  a  few  brief  words,  stat- 
ing the  subject  of  prayer.  Occasionally  a  few 
earnest  words  would  be  interjected,  but  addresses 
were  always  few  and  brief.  Generally  five  min- 
utes were  allowed  to  the  leader  in  opening.  All 
other  addresses  were  strictly  limited  to  three 
minutes.  A  bell  stood  on  the  table  of  the  leader 
and  if  any  would  offer  to  go  beyond  his  time  the 
stroke  of  the  bell  called  him  clown.  Gradually 
these  prayer  meetings  became  less  frequent  and 
lost  their  old  interest  and  power ;  gradually  they 
lost  their  distinctive  character  of  meetings  for 
prayer,  and  long  addresses  from  the  leader  and 
others  where  there  was  no  limitation  of  time, 
took  the  place  of  prayer. 

Along  with  the  spirit  of  prayer  there  came  to 
believers  a  sense  of  personal  responsibility  for 
the  souls  of  othei^,  and  a  recognition  of  the  uni- 
versal priesthood  of  believers.  The  duty  of  per- 
sonal and  earnest  efforts  to  lead  souls  to  Christ, 
was  burned  into  the  hearts  of  God's  people  as 
never  before.  Secularities  too  were  sanctified. 
The  telegraph  was  employed  to  thrill  tidings  of 
salvation  around  the  land.  The  secular  press,  a 
thing  unheard  of  before,  gave  full  reports  of  ser- 
mons and  mingled  news  from  heaven  with  news 
of  earth.  Merchants  mingled  religious  conver- 
sation with  their  talks  on  business,  and  put  re- 


APPENDIX.  1^ 

ligious  tracts  and  pamphlets  in  the  bales  of  goods 
which  they  sent  to  country  customers. 

The  city  has  been  visited  from  time  to  time  by 
evangelists  of  different  names,  and  notably  by 
Mr.  Moody.  Several  times  he  visited  the  city 
when  the  largest  halls  were  procured  and 
crowded  week  after  week  to  overflowing.  There 
were  after  meetings  and  inquiry  meetings  and 
all  the  usual  appliances.  Again  and  again  there 
were  signs  of  promise  and  the  blessing  seemed 
about  to  descend.  Earnest  souls  would  gather 
together  'and  watch  for  the  little  cloud  to  over- 
spread the  heavens,  but  the  scenes  of  1857  and 
the  immediately  following  years  have  never 
since  been  repeated. 

The  type  of  piety  within  these  last  few  years 
has  undergone  a  marked  change,  and  this  change 
manifests  itself  in  all  departments  of  Christian 
life  and  activity.  The  topics  of  preaching,  the 
burden  of  prayers,  and  the  aims  of  Christian  liv- 
ing are  all  greatly  changed.  Formerly  the  chief 
concern  of  the  pulpit  was  with  individual  souls, 
recognizing  the  fact  that  each  soul  is  of  more  value 
than  all  worlds.  To  win  the  souls  of  his  hearers 
was  the  preacher's  great  purpose  and  the  doctrines 
of  salvation  were  so  unfolded  as  to  shut  each  one 
up  to  the  faith  of  Christ.  The  sinner  as  lost  and 
under  the  curse  and  condemnation  of  God's  law, 
the  sinner's  helplessness,  and  the  necessity  of  the 
new  birth  by  the  power  of  the  Divine  Spirit, 
justification  by  faith,  personal  faith  in  a  personal 
Saviour,  the  necessity  of  holiness,  in  heart  and  in 
life,  the  marks  and  evidences  by  which  each  must 
prove  himself  whether  indeed  he  be  in  the  faith, 


146  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

— these  were  the  constant  topics  of  the  pulpit. 
The  preacher  laid  emphasis  upon  the  fact  that 
the  kingdom  of  God  is  within  you,  and  labored 
most  of  all  for  the  coming  of  that  kingdom  in 
the  individual  soul.  The  burden  of  prayer,  too, 
was  for  ^a  stronger  faith,  a  brighter  hope  and  a 
more  abounding  love  for  God. 

In  these  last  days,  the  thoughts  of  men  are 
largely  turned  away  from  the  kingdom  within,  to 
the  kingdom  Avithout.  The  great  truths  by  which 
sinners  are  aAvakened  and  Christians  are  edified 
and  sanctified  do  not  occupy  the  large  place  they 
once  did.  Work  has  largely  superseded  faith,  and 
the  labors  of  the  hands  have  taken  the  place  of  the 
searching  of  the  heart.  To  the  ordinances  which 
God  has  appointed,  the  word,  sacrament  and 
prayer,  innumerable  others  have  been  added. 
Societies  of  every  name  are  established  to  pro- 
mote each  individual  Christian  grace  and  accom- 
plish by  other  means  the  great  ends  for  which 
the  Church  was  ordained.  Machinery  is  some- 
times so  cumbrous  and  complicated  that  to  tend 
it  and  keep  it  moving  without  friction  absorbs 
largely  a  pastor's  time  and  exhausts  the  energies 
and  activity  of  the  Church.  Young  people  and 
young  Christians  instead  of  being  gathered  to- 
gether as  in  the  early  Church,  for  catechetical 
instruction,  come  together  as  teachers  of  each 
other.  The  instruction  of  the  young  to  Avhich 
pastors  and  elders  a  few  years  ago  were  accus- 
tomed to  devote  so  much  time  and  care  are  now 
almost  unknown.  Outward  duties  are  so  multi- 
plied and  so  exacting  as  to  leave  little  time  for 
the  cultivation  of  personal  piety.     It  is  difficult 


APPENDIX.  147 

to  adjust  aright  the  relations  of  faith  and  works 
so  as  to  give  to  each  its  proper  place.  But  if 
faith  without  works  is  dead,  work  without  faith 
is  twice  dead.  The  work  of  the  hands  cannot 
take  the  place  of  the  devotion  of  heart,  and  all 
Christian  activities  which  do  not  flow  from  sin- 
cere love  to  God  and  the  souls  of  men  and  from 
a  heart  filled  Avith  the  Spirit  of  God,  are  worth- 
less in  God's  esteem.  If  in  former  times,  too 
much  emphasis  was  laid  on  the  kingdom  Avithin 
to  the  comparative  neglect  of  the  kingdom  with- 
out, Ave  are  sure  that  in  these  last  times  too  much 
emphasis  is  laid  on  the  kingdom  Avithout,  to  the 
neglect  of  the  kingdom  Avithin. 


THE  CIYIL  WAE. 

The  darkest  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  Bal- 
timore churches  is  that  which  eml>races  the  Civil 
War.  The  extension  of  the  Church  which  had 
been  carried  on  with  such  unexampled  vigor  for 
some  years  was  suddenly  arrested,  and  for  almost 
fifteen  years  not  a  single  church  was  added  to 
the  existing  number.  The  very  existence  of  all 
was  seriously  endangered,  for  that  brotherly  love 
which  is  the  badge  of  the  Christian,  the  bond  of 
perfectness,  and  the  foundation  on  which  the 
Church  as  the  communion  of  saints  rests,  was  for 
the  time  almost  lost.  "And  if  the  foundations 
be  destroyed,  what  can  the  righteous  do  ?  " 

It  is  impossible  for  those  who  did  not  witness 
those  evil  days  adequately  to  conceive  of  them. 
It  is  impossible  in  these  halcyon  days  of  peace 
for  those  who  passed  through  them  to  live  them 
over  again.  Maryland  Avas  a  border  State.  Its 
inhabitants  were,  in  almost  equal  numbers,  from 
both  sections,  the  N^orth  and  the  South.  Each 
inherited  the  traditions,  prejudices  and  passions 
of  its  own  section.  At  the  outset,  the  great  body 
of  the  citizens  were  on  the  side  of  the  Union,  as 
was  ascertained  by  careful  inquiry  at  the  time. 
As  the  war  went  on,  however,  there  was  a 
marked  change  in  public  sentiment.  Some  of 
the  representatives  of  the  general  government 
were  badly  chosen,  low,  unprincipled,  mercenary 

148 


APPENDIX.  149 

men,  who  made  merchandise  of  their  office,  and 
their  faults  Avere  charged  upon  the  authority 
they  represented.  Baltimore  was  in  a  Southern, 
slave-holding  State,  and  loyalty  to  its  section,  it 
was  urged,  demanded  its  adherence  to  the  South. 
A  member  of  my  church,  and  one  of  my  most 
intimate  friends,  was  an  avowed  opponent  of 
slavery  and  an  earnest  advocate  of  its  abolition 
in  Maryland.  To  the  surprise  of  every  one,  he 
became  one  of  the  most  active  and  pronounced 
of  Southerners.  I  said  to  him,  "Among  all  the 
surprises  of  these  days,  the  greatest  of  all  to  me 
is  that  you  should  be  a  Secessionist."  He  re- 
plied, "  You  know  my  opinions  about  slavery, 
but  that  is  our  own  affair,  and  we  will  not  toler- 
ate the  intermeddling  of  the  Yankees."  And 
that  sentiment  influenced  great  numbers  besides. 

As  the  war  still  went  on  all  alienations  and 
strifes  were  multiplied  and  intensified.  Families 
were  divided,  sons  against  fathers,  and  wives 
against  husbands,  and  the  peace  of  many  a  fam- 
ily was  utterly  Avrecked.  Lifelong  friendships 
Avere  suddenly  sundered.  The  dividing  line  ran 
through  and  through  all  the  most  tender  rela- 
tions and  hallowed  associations  of  life.  "Except 
those  days  had  been  shortened,  no  flesh  had  been 
saA'-ed." 

Mutual  confidence,  sometimes  among  the  most 
devoted  friends,  Avas  gone,  and  an  atmosphere  of 
suspicion  enveloped  the  city.  Every  one  kncAv 
that  he  Avas  surrounded  by  spies  and  informers 
and  often  feared  to  speak  lest  his  most  harmless 
Avords  should  be  tortured  into  evidences  of  dis- 
loyalty.    Let  me  give  a  fcAv  incidents  Avhich  bet- 


150  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

ter  than  any  general  description  will  give  the 
picture  of  those  times. 

A  brother  minister  from  Virginia,  Avho  had 
been  Korth,  wished  to  return  home,  but  was  re- 
fused a  passport.  He  asked  me  to  intercede  for 
him.  I  went  at  once  to  th'e  marshal,  told  his 
story,  and  preferred  his  request.  The  marshal 
replied  that  under  other  circumstances  he  would 
gladly  comply,  but  just  at  that  time,  owing  to 
certain  military  movements  on  the  Virginia  bor- 
der, his  orders  were  imperative  to  allow  no  one 
to  pass  the  lines.  After  talking  some  time  he 
pointed  to  a  large  case  of  drawers  in  his  office, 
and  said  :  *'  That  is  full  of  sworn  informations 
against  men,  many  of  whom  you  know  as  among 
the  best  citizens  of  Baltimore.  Some  of  these 
informations  I  know  were  prompted  by  sheer 
malice  and  came  from  rivals  in  business  or  per- 
sonal enemies.  Many  of  them  relate  to  the  most 
trivial  matters,  a  careless  w^ord,  or  a  thoughtless 
act,  tortured  into  evidence  of  disloyalty.  Yet 
they  are  presented,  many  of  them,  by  reputable 
men,  and  urged  with  the  greatest  pertinacity. 
And  because  I  will  not  become  the  instrument 
of  angry  or  malicious  men,  my  conduct  is  criti- 
cised and  censured  and  I  am  exposed  every  day 
to  unnumbered  perplexities  from  this  cause." 

On  another  occasion  a  brother  minister  from 
Mississippi  came  North  to  visit  an  aged  mother 
and  a  sister  who  needed  his  care  in  those  troub- 
lous times.  Spies  were  on  his  steps,  and  on  his 
arrival  in  Baltimore  he  was  arrested  and  thrown 
into  jail.  He  sent  me  a  message  informing  me 
of  his  condition  and  told  me  his  story.     I  went 


APPENDIX.  151 

to  the  marshal,  related  to  him  the  circumstances 
as  I  had  learned  them,  told  him  I  had  known  the 
accused  intimately  for  many  years  and  believed 
him  incapable  of  the  crime  alleged.  The  mar- 
shal replied,  that  whatever  the  facts  were  the 
circumstances  were  so  suspicious  as  in  his  opinion 
to  justify  the  arrest.  "  But,"  said  he,  "  on  your 
representation,  I  will  release  him  from  jail  on 
condition  that  he  report  at  this  office  ever}^  day 
until  further  orders."  He  was  released,  and  I 
invited  him  to  be  a  guest  in  my  house,  a  perilous 
thing  in  those  days,  for  it  looked  like  consorting 
with  traitors  and  giving  aid  and  comfort  to  the 
enemy.  He  remained  in  my  house  for  weeks, 
every  day  reporting  himself  at  the  marshal's 
office,  and  every  day,  on  his  return,  telling  me 
the  passports  were  for  sale  and  he  could  buy  one 
for  a  certain  price,  which  his  conscience  would 
not  allow  him  to  do.  I  said  to  him  and  thought 
at  the  time,  he  must  be  deceived.  It  Avas  proved, 
however,  in  the  end,  that  an  official  of  the  gov- 
ernment made  a  profitable  business  of  selling 
passports  to  any  who  would  pay  the  price,  and 
for  this  and  other  offenses  of  which  he  was  con- 
victed he  was  sent  to  Sing-Sing.  Meanwhile, 
the  brother's  sick  wife  and  defenseless  family 
were  in  the  heart  of  Mississippi,  which  was  over- 
run and  ravished  in  every  direction  by  the  con- 
tending armies. 

Early  one  morning  a  gentleman  came  into  my 
study,  announced  himself  as  a  detective,  showed 
me  his  badge,  and  said  the  marshal  wished  to 
see  me  at  his  office.  My  first  thought  was  that 
I  was  under  arrest  for  some  alleged  offense.     I 


152  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

tried  to  learn  for  Avhat  purpose  the  marshal 
wished  to  see  me,  and  succeeded  at  hist  in  as- 
certaining that  it  was  with  reference  to  one  of 
our  pastors  in  connection  with  the  week  of 
prayer,  which  had  just  been  held  in  the  Central 
Church.  I  went  immediately  to  the  brother's 
house  to  inform  him  of  the  facts,  and  then  re- 
paired to  the  marshal's  office.  He  said  that 
charges  had  been  preferred  against  one  of  our 
ministers,  naming  him,  who  it  was  said  had  re- 
fused to  take  part  in  the  meetings  of  the  Aveek 
before,  because  the  president  and  authorities  of 
the  government  Avould  be  prayed  for.  I  told 
him  the  facts  were  not  as  reported  to  him,  for 
while  the  brother  had  refused  to  take  part  in  the 
meetings,  it  was  for  altogether  a  different  reason 
from  the  one  alleged.  Then  he  went  on  to  say 
that  he  was  greatly  troubled  to  know  what  to  do 
with  the  accused.  Complaints  were  continually 
brought  to  the  office  against  him  as  one  of  the 
most  active  opponents  of  the  government  and 
disturbers  of  the  peace  of  the  city.  Ilis  house  was 
represented  as  a  rendezvous  of  traitors,  and  his 
influence  in  every  way  was  said  to  be  most  dis- 
turbing. What  ought  he  to  do  ?  I  replied  that, 
in  my  opinion,  the  worst  thing  he  could  do  would 
be  to  arrest  or  interfere  with  the  brother  in  any 
way.  His  position  was  well  known,  his  example 
and  influence  had  already  done  all  the  evil  they 
could  do.  To  arrest  him  would  be  to  make  him  a 
martyr  in  the  estimation  of  his  friends,  and 
aggravate  the  agitations  he  desired  to  allay. 
After  some  further  talk  he  said,  "  I  think  that  is 
right ; "  rang  his  bell,  sent  a  messenger  for  a  pa- 


APPENDIX.  153 

per,  then  holding  it  in  his  hand  said,  ^'  This  is  a 
warrant  I  had  already  made  out  for  his  arrest," 
then  threw  it  into  the  fire. 

A  young  man  came  to  me  on  one  occasion  and 
said  that  a  friend  of  his  had  been  condemned  as 
a  spy,  was  imprisoned  at  Fort  McHenry,  and 
sentenced  to  be  shot  the  following  morning.  He 
said  that  a  reprieve  had  been  secured  from 
President  Lincoln,  but  for  some  reason  had  failed 
to  reach  the  officer  charged  with  the  execution. 
I  went  down  to  Fort  McHenry  and  told  the 
commanding  general  the  facts  as  reported  to  me. 
He  said  that  he  had  no  discretion  at  all  in  the 
case.  His  orders  were  to  shoot  the  condemned 
the  following  morning,  and  unless  contrary 
orders  came  it  must  be  done.  When  I  reported 
this  answer,  the  friends  of  the  condemned  pro- 
cured at  once  a  locomotive,  went  over  to  Wash- 
ington, and  found  that  the  president  was  out  at" 
the  Soldier's  Home.  They  repaired  there  imme- 
diately, roused  the  president  from  his  bed,  for  it 
was  far  on  in  the  night,  and  told  him  their  story. 
He  listened  patiently,  and  then  replied,  in  his 
peculiar  manner :  "•  You  Baltimore  Secessionists  are 
very  strange  people.  H  the  country  has  need  of 
your  service,  you  are  nowhere  to  be  found,  but 
if  any  of  you  get  into  trouble  you  come  down  to 
me  in  shoals.  Noav  I  Avant  you  to  understand 
this  thing  must  be  ended.  My  party,  and  the 
friends  of  the  government  are  censuring  me 
for  my  frequent  interference  in  cases  like  this. 
They  say  I  am  demoralizing  the  service  by  my 
frequent  pardons.  JS^ow  I  want  you  to  understand 
that  if  any  of  you  hereafter  get  into  trouble,  you 


154  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

must  not  come  to  me.  But  this  poor  felloAv,  I 
don't  wish  him  to  be  shot,  and  I  will  give  you  a 
pardon,  but  remember  what  I  say."  He  sat  down 
and  wrote  the  pardon,  and  when  my  young 
friend  came  to  see  me  the  next  day,  he  said  :  "  You 
know  how  I  hated  President  Lincoln,  and  how  I 
have  denounced  him ;  but  he  is  a  noble  man,  and 
has  the  heart  of  a  man,  and  you  will  never  hear 
me  denounce  him  again."  I  never  knew  a  South- 
erner, however  violent  his  antipathies,  who  was 
brought  into  personal  contact  with  President 
Lincoln,  under  similar  circumstances,  who  did  not 
come  away  feeling  as  he  felt. 

I  might  multiply  instances  like  these,  indefi- 
nitely, for  we  were  continually  called  upon  in 
those  dsijs  to  help  our  friends  in  trouble.  It  was 
a  service  of  no  little  peril,  for  sympathy  with  the 
accused  w^as  always  liable  to  be  construed  into 
■sympathy  with  their  cause.  I  knew  that  com- 
plaints had  been  made  against  me  because  I  so 
frequently  interposed  in  such  cases.  But  I  had 
one  assurance  of  safety  w^hich  all  others  did  not 
have.  Judge  Hoffman,  who  was  collector  of  the 
port,  and  a  confidential  adviser  of  the  government 
officials,  Avas  my  firm  friend,  and  sympathized 
heartily  with  me.  I  often  went  to  him  to  secure 
his  influence  in  behalf  of  persons  I  desired  to  be- 
friend, and  again  and  again,  he  went  Avith  me  to 
the  marshal's  office  to  join  in  my  solicitations. 
I  have  no  doubt  it  was  his  influence  which  more 
than  once  saved  me  from  trouble,  and  I  am  glad 
to  have  this  opportunity  of  recording  the  deep 
debt  of  gratitude  I  owe  to  the  memory  of  Judge 
William  Henry  Hoffman. 


APPENDIX.  155 

It  was  in  such  an  atmosphere  as  this  that  the 
Baltimore  churches  were  compelled  to  live  through 
long  and  weary  years.  Of  necessity  they  shared 
in  the  divisions  and  agitations  of  the  community 
around.  The  dividing  line  ran  through  sessions 
and  deacons  and  trustees  and  congregations, 
and  arrayed  them  in  opposing  ranks.  Some- 
times the  grace  of  God  Avas  not  in  every  case 
sufficient  to  restrain  the  madness  of  passion. 
We  were  sometimes  surprised  at  the  unexpected 
evil  of  our  own  hearts,  and  were  amazed  at  its 
exhibition  in  others  whom  we  had  regarded  as 
models  of  Christian  character.  Sometimes  the 
saintliest  souls  were  crazed  with  the  excitements 
of  the  hour.  As  one  example  : — I  returned  from 
Kentucky  to  Baltimore  on  the  morning  of  the 
memorable  19th  of  April,  1861.  In  the  after- 
noon, after  the  collision  of  the  mob  with  the 
Massachusetts  soldiers  on  Pratt  Street  had  taken 
place,  I  walked  out.  The  streets  were  crowded 
with  persons  hurrying  to  and  fro,  agitated  and 
alarmed,  not  knowing  what  was  to  come.  Even 
my  most  familiar  friends  were  afraid  to  speak, 
or  if  they  did,  beckoned  me  off  into  a  corner. 
On  Baltimore  Street  I  met  a  lady,  a  member  of 
my  former  church,  one  of  the  best  of  women, 
lovely  and  gentle  and  Christlike.  Scarcely  wait- 
ing lo  exchange  salutations,  she  exclaimed, 
quivering  with  excitement,  "Nothing  would  de- 
light me  so  much  as  to  plunge  a  dagger  into 
Lincoln's  heart." 

No  one  can  conceive  of  the  anxiety  and  trials 
of  pastors  in  those  evil  days.  Every  word  in 
sermon  and  prayer  was  closely  scrutinized  and 


15G  EIGHTY    YEAllS. 

often  most  strangely  perverted.  Two  members 
of  my  church  were  among  the  most  pronounced 
and  extreme  Union  men.  On  the  morning  after 
I  had  preached  on  the  Fast  Day  appointed  with 
reference  to  the  assassination  of  President  Lin- 
coln, one  of  these  gentlemen  came  to  me  and  said 
the  other  was  greatly  ofi'ended,  because  I  had  not 
sufficiently  eulogized  the  president,  but  for  his 
part  he  thought  I  had  commended  him  too  much, 
for  he  did  not  regard  President  Lincoln  as  stern 
enough  for  the  times  and  doubted  whether  his 
taking  away  was  not  a  blessing  in  disguise. 

In  the  Central  Church,  of  which  I  was  then 
pastor,  the  trustees  were  almost  equally  divided, 
and  among  them  were  found  extreme  men  on 
both  sides.  I  trembled  at  every  meeting  of  the 
board,  for,  knoAving  the  strength  of  their  feelings, 
I  did  not  see  how  collisions  could  be  avoided. 
Sometimes  when  they  met  allusion  would  be 
made  to  the  war,  for  it  was  hard  always  to  avoid 
all  mention  of  it,  but  when  the  fire  would  begin 
to  burn  and  their  eyes  begin  to  sparkle,  they 
would  say  to  each  other :  "  We  will  light  this  out 
at  the  ballot  box  and  on  the  field,  but  Ave  are  here 
to  look  out  for  the  interest  of  this  church,"  and 
through  God's  abounding  grace  to  his  servants 
there  was  never  once  an  angry  collision. 

Pastors  in  those  days  could  not  be  partisans.  I 
made  up  my  mind  from  the  outset  that  the  issues 
involved  did  not  touch  Christian  character.  1 
knew  the  men  on  both  sides  and  kncAv  them 
alike  to  be  God-feai*ing  men.  All  recognized 
their  obligation  to  be  in  subjection  to  the  powers 
that  be.     Their  duties  as  Christians  to  civil  gov- 


APPENDIX.  157 

ernment  were  held  alike  by  both.  The  questions 
which  divided  them  related  to  the  proper  theory 
of  the  government,  the  relations  between  the 
State  and  Federal  authorities,  and  that  was  a 
political  question  pure  and  simple,  and  one 
which  had  divided  the  country  from  the  forma- 
tion of  the  constitution.  However,  in  the  excite- 
ment of  the  hour.  Christians  might  accuse  each 
other  of  unchristian  conduct  because  of  their 
political  differences,  pastors  could  have  no  share 
in  such  accusations.  They  Avere  all  alike  to  them 
brethren  beloved  in  the  Lord. 

I  was  a  member  of  the  two  General  Assem- 
blies of  1866  and  1867,  the  one  meeting  in  St. 
Louis  and  the  other  in  Cincinnati.  The  war  be- 
tween the  States  was  then  ended,  but  the  war  in 
the  Church  raged  as  violently  as  ever.  I  have  wit- 
nessed excited  scenes  in  Assemblies  since,  but 
never  any  to  compare  Avith  those  two  Assemblies. 
The  most  agitating  questions,  the  declaration  and 
testimony  paper,  and  what  shall  be  done  Avith  its 
signers,  the  strifes  in  the  Synod  of  Kentucky, 
the  proposed  discipline  of  individuals  in  churches 
Avho  had  taken  part  in  the  Eebellion,  questions 
Avhich  revi\^ed  the  passions  of  war  times,  came 
up  before  the  Assembly.  Letters  and  telegrams 
AA^ere  poured  into  Baltimore  often  misre])resent- 
ing  the  acts  of  the  Assembly  and  creating  the 
Avildest  excitement.  When  I  returned  home 
from  the  Assembly  of  1867,  a  conference  of  the 
brethren  Avas  held  and  it  Avas  proposed  that  I 
should  deliver  a  public  address  explaining  and 
vindicating  the  acts  and  deliberations  of  the  As- 
sembly,   so   far   as    to   show   that    Avhether    ap- 


158  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

proved  of  or  not  they  furnished  no  just  ground 
for  a  disruption  of  the  Church.  I  objected  most 
strenuously  but  it  Avas  urged  something  must  be 
done  to  allay  the  present  excitement  or  our 
churches  would  all  go  to  pieces.  As  I  had  been 
a  member  of  both  Assemblies  and  an  eye  and 
ear  witness  of  all  that  transpired  it  was  said 
that  I  was  the  proper  person  to  deliver  the 
address.  At  last  I  yielded.  When  I  told  my 
wife  what  I  had  consented  to  do,  she  replied, 
"  Well,  Ave  may  begin  to  pack  up,  for  no  pastor 
can  stay  in  Baltimore  AAdio  undertakes  to  clefend 
the  action  of  the  General  Assembly."  The  meet- 
ing Avas  called  in  the  old  Central  Church,  the  larg- 
est in  the  city.  The  day  Avas  fixed  and  notice 
Avas  Avidely  circulated.  At  the  appointed  time 
an  immense  congregation  gathered,  all  eager  and 
agitated.  For  an  hour  and  a  half,  an  intolerable 
length  in  a  sermon,  I  spoke,  reading  at  length 
the  precise  Avords  of  the  Assembly,  vindicating 
Avhere  I  could,  and,  Avhere  I  could  not,  shoAving 
there  Avas  nothing  to  justify  any  one  in  leaving 
the  Church.  The  reading  of  the  exact  Avords  of 
the  Assembly  and  explanations  of  the  circum- 
stances under  Avhich  they  Avere  delivered  and  the 
ends  to  be  secured  tended  greatly  to  allay  the 
excitement.  Only  tAvo  of  our  churches  finally 
AvithdrcAV  and  Avhile  many  in  all  the  rest  dis- 
sented from  some  of  the  acts  of  the  Assembly 
they  did  not  find  in  them  a  sufficient  ground  for 
AvithdraAval.  But  the  scars  of  the  old  conflict 
Avere  sIoav  in  healing  and  for  years,  almost  until 
to-day,  tended  to  repress  Presbyterian  zeal  and 
paralyze  Presbyterian  activity. 


CHURCH  UOTTY. 

In  no  respect  has  the  progress  of  the  Church 
during  the  last  eighty  years  been  so  marked  as 
in  the  direction  of  Church  unity.  Eighty  years 
ago  the  several  churches  were  not  only  isolated 
but  antagonistic.  Their  chief  care  seemed  to  be 
to  build  high  the  separating  walls  and  strengthen 
their  defenses  against  each  other.  The  great 
things  in  which  they  agreed  were  retired  to  the 
background.  The  minor  things  in  which  they 
differed  were  brought  to  the  foreground.  After 
the  reaction  which  followed  the  great  revival 
the  pulpit  became  intensely  controversial.  As 
the  controversies  Avere  between  members  of  the 
same  household  they  were  often  embittered  as  is 
proverbially  the  case  with  family  quarrels.  My 
early  life  was  spent  where  almost  the  entire  popu- 
lation were  Presbyterians,  but  Presbyterians  of 
different  schools.  In  a  little  village  of  some  700  in- 
habitants there  were  four  Presbyterian  churches, 
Associate  Reformed,  Seceder,  Covenanter,  and 
Presbyterian.  The  first  three  Psalm-singing 
churches  were  separated  by  minor  and  Avhat 
seems  to  us  infinitesimal  differences.  All  united 
in  arraigning  the  Presbyterian  hymn  singers  as 
profaning  an  ordinance  of  Divine  worship  and 
being  guilty  of  rank  idolatry.  Some  four  years 
ago  on  a  visit  to  Mercer,  I  was  invited  to  attend 

159 


160  EIGHTY    YEAKS. 

a  union  meeting  of  all  these  churches.  I  sat  in 
the  pulpit  along  with  the  several  pastors  from 
which  hfty  years  before  I  had  been  constantly 
proclaimed  as  an  idolater  and  offerer  of  strange 
lire  on  God's  altar.  The  churches  that  were  so 
widely  separated  fifty  3^ears  before  now  met  and 
worshiped  together  and  cooperated  with  each 
other  in  all  good  works.  As  I  sat  and  looked 
over  the  assembly  I  seemed  like  one  that 
dreamed.  This  is  but  one  instance  of  the 
marked  change  which  has  taken  place  in  the 
attitudes  of  the  churches  toward  each  other  dur- 
ing the  last  fifty  years.  AVhile  each  retains  to- 
day its  own  view  of  truth,  all  hold  that  truth  in 
love  and  rejoice  to  recognize  their  fellowship  in 
Christ. 

Church  unity  as  a  sentiment  and  an  aspiration 
has  always  been  enshrined  in  the  inmost  heart  of 
God's  people.  They  have  gone  through  the  ages 
uttering  the  old  confession :  '*  I  believe  in  the 
Holy  Catholic  Church."  The  songs  which  stir 
their  deepest  emotion  are  those  which  recognize 
the  unity  of  the  Church  and  their  oneness  in  Christ 
— "  The  Church's  one  Foundation,"  "  One  Family 
we  dwell  in  Him,"  "  Blest  be  the  Tie  that  Binds." 
The  serititnent  began  to  be  formulated  in  thought 
and  embodied  in  action  on  the  revival  of  the  mis- 
sionary spirit  some  eighty  3"ears  ago.  When  the 
Church  realized  her  high  mission  to  give  the  gos- 
pel to  the  world,  and  then  looked  around  upon 
her  multiplied  divisions  and  saw  how  these  para- 
lyzed her  strength  and  wasted  her  resources,  the 
necessity  of  union  was  universally  recognized. 
The  members  of  the  several  churches  began  to 


APPENDIX.  161 

meet  together  in  Bible  societies,  and  tract  socie- 
ties and  union  societies  of  many  names,  to  ac- 
complisli  the  work  which  belonged  to  them  in 
common. 

Local  unions  were  succeeded  b}^  conventions 
and  alliances  of  wider  scope,  and  the  bounds 
of  brotherhood  within  the  last  fifty  years 
have  enlarged  as  never  before  since  apostolic 
times. 

I  was  a  member  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance 
Avhich  met  in  New  York  in  1872.  It  was  a  won- 
derful spectacle,  unexampled  in  Christendom  since 
the  great  ecumenical  councils  of  the  early  Church. 
Men  from  the  East  and  the  West,  and  the  North 
and  the  South,  from  all  the  continents  and  from 
the  islands  of  the  sea,  of  all  races  and  tribes,  and 
colors,  and  costumes,  and  languages,  came  to- 
gether, prayed  and  communed  together,  of  the 
thing's  touching  the  King.  All  gathered  together 
in  '*  the  unity  of  the  Spirit "  and  "  the  bond  of 
peace."  I  was  a  member  of  the  Presbj^terian 
Alliance  which  met  in  Philadelphia  in  1880,  and 
of  the  same  body  again  when  it  met  in  London  in 
1888.  Members  of  all  the  Churches  of  the  great 
Presbyterian  body  from  all  over  the  world,  with 
all  their  multiplied  diversities,  came  together  day 
after  day,  as  members  of  the  same  familj^,  and  sat 
down  at  the  common  Father's  table.  All  that  I 
saw  and  felt  at  these  meetings  ]>ersuaded  me  at 
once  of  the  practicability  and  desirabilit}^  of  a 
closer  Christian  union  as  a  present  duty,  and  the 
ultimate  union  of  all  the  churches  who  profess 
the  faith  of  Christ  as  the  goal  to  be  sought  and 
surely  won. 


162  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

In  the  Presbyterian  Church  the  cause  of  Church 
unity  received  a  marked  impulse  at  the  General 
Assembly  which  met  in  Omaha  in  1887.  I  was 
the  moderator  of  that  Assembly,  and  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  sessions  one  morning  I  was  informed 
that  a  delegation  from  the  Diocesan  Convention 
of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Nebraska,  then  in  ses- 
sion at  Omaha,  was  present  to  present  the  frater- 
nal salutations  of  the  Convention.  All  business 
was  at  once  suspended,  the  delegation  came  for- 
ward and  the  chairman,  in  eloquent  brotherly 
words,  breathing  throughout  the  spirit  of  Christ, 
presented  the  salutations  of  the  Convention. 
The  moderator  replied,  reciprocating  the  broth- 
erly feelings  expressed,  then  stepped  forward  on 
the  platform,  reached  out  his  hand  to  the  speaker, 
and  they  stood  together  before  the  entire  Assem- 
bly extending  to  each  other  the  right  hand  of  fel- 
lowship, representatives  of  the  two  great  historic 
English  Churches,  once  so  closely  united  and  now 
so  Avidely  separated.  The  entire  Assembly  was 
moved  at  the  sight,  and  all  hearts  for  the  time 
were  one. 

This  scene  prepared  the  Avay  for  another  that 
followed  on  a  subsequent  day.  A  communication 
was  received  atid  read  from  the  Commission  on 
Christian  Unity  of  the  General  Convention  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  addressed  "  To  the 
Secretary  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  Omaha,  Nebraska."  The  letter 
transmitted  a  declaration  put  forth  by  the  House 
of  Bishops  on  the  subject  of  Christian  unity,  and 
the  action  of  the  Convention  in  the  appointment 
of  a  commission  under  that  action.     The  declarar 


APPENDIX.  163 

tion  of  the  House  of  Bishops  after  a  historical 
preamble,  goes  on : 

'Now,  therefore,  we  Bishops  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica, in  council  assembled  as  Bishops  of  the  Church 
of  God,  do  hereby  solemnly  declare,  to  all  whom 
it  may  concern,  and  especially  to  our  fellow- 
Christians  of  the  different  communions  in  this 
land,  who,  in  their  several  spheres,  have  con- 
tended for  the  religion  of  Christ. 

1.  Our  earnest  desire  that  the  Saviour's  prayer 
"  that  we  all  may  be  one,"  may,  in  its  deepest 
and  truest  sense,  be  speedily  fulfilled. 

2.  That  we  believe  that  all  who  have  been 
duly  baptized  with  water  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
are  members  of  the  Holy  Catholic  Church. 

3.  That  in  all  things  of  human  ordering  or 
human  choice  relating  to  modes  of  worship  and 
discipline,  or  to  traditional  customs,  this  Church 
is  ready  in  the  spirit  of  love  and  humility  to 
forego  all  preferences  of  her  own. 

4.  That  this  Church  does  not  seek  to  absorb 
other  Communions,  but  rather,  cooperating  with 
them  on  the  basis  of  a  common  Faith  and  Order, 
to  discountenance  schism,  to  heal  the  wounds 
of  the  Body  of  Christ,  and  to  promote  the 
charity  which  is  the  chief  of  Christian  graces 
and  the  visible  manifestation  of  Christ  to  the 
world. 

But, furthermore :  We  do  hereby  affirm  that 
the  Christian  unity  now  so  earnestly  desired  by 
the  memorialists,  can  be  restored  only  by  the  re- 


164  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

turn  of  all  Christian  Communions  to  the  princi- 
ples of  unity  exemplified  by  the  undivided  Cath- 
olic Church  during  the  first  ages  of  its  existence, 
Avhich  principles  we  believe  to  be  the  substantial 
Deposit  of  Christian  Faith  and  Order  committed 
by  Christ  and  his  Apostles  to  the  Church  unto 
the  end  of  the  world,  and  therefore  incapable  of 
compromise  or  surrender  by  those  who  have  been 
ordained  to  be  its  Stewards  and  Trustees,  for  the 
common  and  equal  benefit  of  all  men. 

As  inherent  parts  of  this  sacred  Deposit,  and, 
therefore,  as  essential  to  the  restoration  of  unity 
among  the  divided  branches  of  Christendom,  Ave 
account  the  following,  to  wit : 

I.  The  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  ISTew 
Testament  as  the  Kevealed  Word  of  God ; 

II.  The  Nicene  Creed  as  the  sufficient  state- 
ment of  the  Christian  Faith ; 

III.  The  Two  Sacraments — Baptism  and  the 
Supper  of  the  Lord — ministered  with  unfailing 
use  of  Christ's  Avords  of  institution,  and  of  the 
elements  ordained  by  him. 

lY.  The  Historic  Episcopate,  locall}^  adapted 
in  the  methods  of  its  administration  to  the  vary- 
ing needs  of  the  nations  and  peoples  called  of 
God  into  the  unity  of  his  Church ; 

F'urthermore  :  Deepl}^  grieved  by  the  sad  di- 
visions Avhich  afflict  the  Cliristian  Church  in  our 
own  land,  Ave  hereby  declare  our  desire  and  readi- 
ness, so  soon  as  there  shall  be  any  authorized 
response  to  this  declaration,  to  enter  into  broth- 
erly conference  Avith  all  or  any  Christian  bodies 
seeking  the  restoration  of  the  organic  unity  of 
the  Church,  with  a  view  to  the  earnest  study  of 


APPENDIX.  165 

the  conditions  under  Avliich  so  priceless  a  blessing 
might  happily  be  brought  to  pass. 
A  true  and  official  copy. 
Attest : 

Herman  C.  Duncan, 
Secretary  of  Co'in^nission. 

The  accompanying  paper  Avas  as  follows : 

Kesolution  as  Adopted  by  the  Concurrent 
Action  of  the  House  of  Bishops  and  of 
THE  House  of  Deputies  of  the  General 
Convention,  Convened  in  the  City  of 
Chicago,  October  27,  1886. 

jResolved,  That  a  Commission  consisting  of 
five  Bishops,  five  Clerical  and  five  Lay  Deputies 
be  appointed,  who  shall,  at  their  discretion,  com- 
municate to  the  organized  Christian  bodies  of  our 
country  the  declaration  set  forth  by  the  Bishops 
on  the  twentieth  day  of  October,  and  shall  hold 
themselves  ready  to  enter  into  brotherly  confer- 
ence with  all  or  any  Christian  bodies  seeking  the 
restoration  of  the  organic  unity  of  the  Church ; 
and  that  this  Commission  be  requested  to  make  a 
report  of  its  action  to  the  General  Convention  of 
1889. 

Under  this  resolution  the  following  appoint- 
ments were  made : 

The  Et-  Eev.  Alfred  Lee,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Bishop 
of  Delaware. 

The  Kt.  Kev.  John  Williams,  S.  T.  D.,  LL.  D., 
Bishop  of  Connecticut. 


166  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

The  Et.  Eev.  Eichard  Hooker  Wilmer,  D.  D., 
LL.  D.,  Bishop  of  Alabama. 

The  Et.  Eev.  Abram  Newkirk  Littlejohn,  D.D., 
LL.  D.,  Bishop  of  Long  Island. 

The  Et.  Eev.  Mark  Antony  DeWolfe  Howe, 
D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Bishojj  of  Central  Pennsylvania. 

The  Eev.  George  Morgan  Hills,  D.  D.,  Burling- 
ton, K.  J. 

The  Eev.  Stephen  Moylen  Bird,  Galveston,  Tex. 

The  Eev.  Kinloch  Nelson,  D.D.,  Theological 
Seminary,  Virginia. 

The  Eev.  Herman  Cope  Duncan,  Alexandria, 
La. 

The  Eev.  Arthur  Wilde  Little,  Portland,  Me. 

George  C.  Shattuck,  M.  D.,  Boston,  Mass. 

William  Cornwall,  Louisville,  Ky. 

James  Murdock  Smith,  LL.  D.,  Buffalo,  K.  Y. 

Henry  P.  Baldwin,  Detroit,  Mich. 

John  H.  Stotsenburg,  New  Albany,  Ind. 

The  Commission  is  organized  Avith  the  Et.  Eev. 
the  Bishop  of  Delaware  as  Chairman,  and  the 
Eev.  Herman  C.  Duncan  as  Eecording  and  Cor- 
responding Secretary. 

Action  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A., 

1887. 

[Mhiutes,  pp.  133,  134.] 

The  Assembly  resolved  in  the  matter  of  the 
Declaration  of  the  House  of  Bishops  of  the  Prot- 
estant Episcopal  Church : 

"  1.  That  the  statement  of  principles  em- 
bodied in  the  Eeport  of  the  Committee  on  Bills 


APPENDIX.  167 

and  Overtures  be  published  in  the  Appendix  to 
the  Mimctes  of  this  Assembly,  as  a  clear  presen- 
tation of  the  position  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
on  Church  union  and  unity. 

"  2.  That  in  response  to  the  fraternal  request 
of  the  Commission  of  our  Protestant  Episcopal 
brethren,  a  Committee  of  eight  ministers  and 
seven  ruling  elders  be  appointed  to  enter  into 
brotherly  conference  with  the  Commission,  and 
with  any  similar  commissions  or  committees  that 
may  be  appointed  by  other  Christian  bodies,  with 
a  view  to  the  earnest  study  of  the  relations  of 
the  different  Churches,  and  of  the  way  in  which 
the  answer  to  the  Kedeemer's  prayer,  '  that  they 
all  may  be  one,'  may  be  realized  and  manifested  ; 
said  Committee  to  report  to  the  next  General 
Assembly. 

"  3.  That  the  following  letter  be  adopted  by 
the  General  Assembly,  signed  by  the  Moderator 
and  Stated  Clerk,  and  forwarded  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Commission.'^ 

A  true  copy. 

William  Henry  Roberts, 

Stated  Clerk. 

Response  of  the  General  Assembly  op 
THE  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S. 
A.,  1887. 

To  the  Commission  on  Christian  Unity  of  the 
House  of  Bishops  and  of  the  House  of  Depu- 
ties of  the  General  Convention  of  the  Protes- 
tant Episcopal  Churchy  convened  in  the  City 
of  Chicago,  October  27,  1886  : 

Dear   Brethren  :     The   General   Assembly 


168  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States 
of  America,  now  in  session  at  Omaha,  Iseb.,  have 
received  with  sincere  gratification  the  "  Declara- 
tion "  of  your  House  of  Bishops,  and  your  re- 
quest, under  it,  for  a  brotherly  conference  with 
us  and  other  branches  of  the  Church  of  Christ, 
"  seeking  the  restoration  of  the  organic  unity  of 
the  Church,  with  a  view  to  the  earnest  study  of 
the  conditions  under  which  so  priceless  a  blessing 
might  happily  be  brought  to  pass." 

The  General  Assembly  are  in  cordial  sympathy 
with  the  growing  desire  among  the  Evangelical 
Christian  Churches  for  practical  unity  and  co- 
operation in  the  work  of  spreading  the  Gospel  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  throughout  all  the  earth, 
and  they  respond  to  your  invitation  with  the  sin- 
cere desire  that  the  conference  asked  for  may 
lead,  if  not  to  a  formal  oneness  of  organization, 
yet  to  such  a  vital  and  essential  unity  of  faith 
and  spirit  and  cooperation  as  shall  bring  all  the 
followers  of  our  common  Lord  into  hearty  fellow- 
ship, and  to  mutual  recognition  and  affection,  and 
to  ministerial  reciprocit}^,  in  the  branches  of  the 
one  visible  Church  of  Christ,  working  together 
with  him  in  advancing  his  kingdom  upon  earth. 

Without  entering  here  into  consideration  of 
any  of  the  principles  which  your  House  of 
Bishops  lay  down  "  as  essential  to  the  restoration 
of  unity  among  the  divided  branches  of  Christen- 
dom," but  leaving  the  consideration  of  them  to 
the  conference  Avhich  you  request,  the  General 
Assembly  have  api)ointed,  Ministers — Joseph  T. 
Smith,  D.  D.,  Robert  M.  Patterson,  D.  D.,  David 
C.  Marquis,  D.D.,  William  Henry  Green,  D.D., 


APPENDIX.  169 

LL.D.,  Samuel  J.  Niccolls,  D.D.,  "William  II. 
Eoberts,  D.  D.,  Francis  Brown,  D.  D.,  Ransom  B. 
Welch,  D.  D.,  Avith  Biding  Elders — Hon.  James 
A.  Beaver,  Hon.  Cyrus  L.  Pershing,  Hon.  Robert 
N.  Willson,  William  E.  Dodge,  Hon.  Samuel  M. 
Breckinridge,  Dr.  William  C.  Gray  and  E.  K. 
Monfort,  LL.  D.,  a  committee  to  confer  with  you 
and  with  any  similar  commissions  or  committees 
that  may  be  appointed  by  any  other  Christian 
Churches  for  conference,  with  instructions  to  re- 
port to  the  next  General  Assembly  the  results  of 
their  deliberations. 

Very  truly  and  fraternally  yours, 

Joseph  T.  Smith,  Moderator. 

William  II.  Robehts,  Stated  Cleric, 

These  papers  present  clearly  the  end  to  be  se- 
cured by  the  conferences,  the  Ijasis  on  which  they 
were  to  proceed,  and  the  metliod  of  brotherly 
conference  by  which  they  were  to  be  conducted. 
Space  will  not  allow  us  to  give  the  long  corre- 
spondence whicii  follows  during  some  seven 
years.  In  addition  to  the  letters  which  passed, 
three  oral  conferences  were  held  between  the 
committee  and  the  commission,  the  first  in  the 
house  of  Mr.  J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  in  New  York ; 
the  second,  in  the  rooms  of  Emanuel  Church  in 
Baltimore;  and  the  third,  in  the  rooms  of  the 
Church  of  the  Covenant,  in  Washington,  D.  C. 
All  the  meetings  held  were  entirely  harmonious. 
JSTot  a  word  or  an  incident  occurred  which  inter- 
rupted the  unity  of  the  Spirit.  The  very  fact 
that  the  representatives  of  the  two  great  historic 
churches  for  so  many  years  could  meet  together 


170  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

in  the  spirit  of  brotherly  love,  was  in  itself  a 
most  inspiring  spectacle.  The  General  Assembly 
of  1894  took  action  which  the  Episcopal  com- 
mission regarded  as  an  expression  of  the  desire, 
on  its  part,  that  the  negotiations  should  be  sus- 
pended, and  it  was  finally  agreed  upon  both  sides 
that  they  should  be  suspended  for  the  present, 
but  both  the  committee  and  the  commission  in 
their  final  letters  expressed  the  earnest  desire 
and  confident  hope  that  the  negotiations  under 
more  favorable  auspices  would  be  resumed,  and 
the  consummation  Avhich  both  so  earnestly  wished 
be  attained. 


FEDEEATION  OF  PRESBYTEEIAJST 
CHUECHES. 

The  committee  on  Church  unity,  in  addition 
to  its  conference  with  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  was  authorized  to  enter  into  brotherly 
correspondence  with  any  similar  committees,  on 
the  same  general  subject.  Correspondence  was 
opened  with  representatives  of  many  other 
churches  throughout  the  land ;  as  the  result  of 
which  it  was  determined  at  last  to  attempt  a 
federation  of  all  the  Presbyterian  churches. 
The  matter  was  reported  to  the  General  As- 
sembly, they  sanctioned  the  movement  and  au- 
thorized the  committee  to  continue  the  corre- 
spondence. Conferences  with  some  of  the  leading 
members  of  different  Presbyterian  bodies  were 
held.  A  subcommittee  was  appointed  to  draft 
the  plan  of  a  federation  of  the  different  Presby- 
terian churches.  The  subcommittee  consisted 
of  the  Eev.  Dr.  E.  M.  Patterson,  Presbyterian, 
the  Eev.  Dr.  Debaum,  Eeformed,  and  the  Eev. 
Dr.  Eeed,  United  Presbyterian.  At  the  call 
of  the  subcommittee  the  joint  committee  met 
in  conference  at  the  Mission  Eooms,  'New  York, 
on  the  25th  of  April.  At  this  conference  the 
following  bodies  were  represented :  The  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  the  U.  S.  A.,  Eeformed 
Church  in  America,  Eeformed  Presbyterian 
Church    General    Synod,    United    Presbyterian 

171 


172  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

Church,  and  Associate  Eeformecl  83^1100!  in  the 
South.  The  draft  of  a  plan  of  federation  was 
presented  by  the  committee  appointed  for  the 
purpose  and  after  discussion  and  slight  amend- 
ment was  adopted,  and  copies  were  ordered  sent 
to  the  several  bodies  represented.  It  is  as  fol- 
lows : 

PLAN   OF   FEDERATION. 

For  the  glory  of  God,  and  for  the  greater 
unity  and  the  advancement  of  the  Church  of 
Avhich  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Head,  the 
folloAving  articles  of  Constitution  and  Federal 
Union  between  the  Eeformed  Churches  in  the 
United  States  holding  the  Presbyterian  system 
are  recommended  for  adoption  : 

1.  Every  denomination  entering  into  this 
Union  shall  retain  its  distinct  individuality,  as 
well  as  every  power,  jurisdiction,  and  right  which 
is  not  by  this  Constitution  expressly  delegated  to 
the  body  hereby  constituted. 

2.  Full  faith  and  credit  shall  be  given  by  all 
of  these  denominations  to  the  acts,  proceedings, 
and  records  of  the  duly  constituted  authorities 
of  the  other  denominations. 

3.  For  the  prosecution  of  work  that  can  be 
better  done  in  union  than  separately  an  Ecclesias- 
tical Assembly  is  hereby  constituted,  which  shall 
be  known  by  the  name  and  style  of  The  Federal 
Council  of  the  Reformed  Churches  in  the  United 
States  of  America  holding  to  the  Presbyterian 
system. 

4.  The  Federal  Council  shall  consist  of  four 
ministers  and  four  elders  from  each  of  the  con- 


APPENDIX.  173 

stituent  denominations,  who  shall  be  chosen, 
with  alternates,  under  the  direction  of  their  re- 
spective General  Assemblies  or  General  Synods, 
in  such  manner  as  those  Assemblies  or  Synods 
shall  respectively  determine. 

5.  The  Federal  Council  shall  endeavor  to  pro- 
mote united  work  for  the  reclamation  of  the 
Christless  masses  in  the  large  cities,  towns,  and 
old  rural  settlements  of  the  country ;  cooperation 
in  Home  Missionary  work  by  the  different  de- 
nominations in  the  new  settlements  and  among 
the  Freedmen  of  the  South,  in  such  a  way  as  to 
remove  denominational  friction  and  prevent  the 
multiplication  of  weak  and  antagonistic  organiza- 
tions where  unnecessary  ;  and  the  prosecution  of 
the  Foreign  Missionary  work  by  the  different 
denominations  on  the  same  principle  of  comity, 
so  that  different  denominations  shall  cultivate 
particular  fields. 

It  shall  also  keep  a  watchful  eye  on  current 
religious,  moral,  and  social  movements,  and  take 
such  action  as  may  concentrate  the  influence  of 
all  the  churches  for  the  preservation  of  their  re- 
ligious inheritance  and  the  maintenance  of  their 
fundamental  principles. 

6.  The  Federal  Council  may  advise  and  rec- 
ommend in  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  general 
welfare  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ,  but  shall  not 
exercise  authority,  except  such  as  is  conferred 
upon  it  by  this  instrument,  or  such  as  may  be 
conferred  upon  it  by  the  federated  bodies.  It 
shall  not  interfere  with  the  creed,  worship,  or 
government  of  the  denominations.  All  matters 
of  discipline  shall  be  left  to  the  exclusive  and 


174  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

final  judgment  of  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  of 
the  denomination  in  which  the  same  may  arise. 

7.  The  Federal  Council  shall  have  the  jwwer 
of  opening  and  maintaining  a  friendly  corre- 
spondence with  the  highest  Assemblies  of  other 
religious  denominations,  for  the  purpose  of  pro- 
moting union  and  concert  of  action  in  general  or 
common  interests. 

8.  All  differences  w^hich  may  arise  among  the 
federated  bodies,  or  any  of  them,  in  regard  to 
matters  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Federal 
Council  shall  be  determined  by  such  executive 
agencies  as  may  be  created  by  the  Federal 
Council,  with  the  right  of  appeal  to  the  Federal 
Council  for  final  adjudication. 

9.  The  officers  of  the  Federal  Council  shall 
be  a  President,  Vice  President,  Clerk  and  Treas- 
urer. 

10.  The  Federal  Council  shall  meet  annually, 
at  such  time  and  place  as  may  be  determined. 

11.  The  contingent  expenses  of  the  Federal 
Council  sliall  be  divided  equally  between  the 
denominations. 

12.  Amendments  to  this  Constitution  may  be 
proposed  by  the  Federal  Council  or  by  any  of 
the  General  Assemblies  or  General  Synods,  but 
the  concurrent  action  of  the  General  Assemblies 
and  General  Synods  shall  be  necessary  for  their 
adoption. 

This  is  now  reported  by  your  Committee  as  a 
tentative  and  suggestive  Plan,  for  the  informa- 
tion of  the  General  Assembly,  in  the  hope  that 
the  Assembly  will  be  gratified  at  the  progress 
which  the  movement  has  made.     Your  Commit- 


APPENDIX.  175 

tee  recommends  that  it  be  authorized  to  continue 
its  Conferences  with  Committees  of  other  Pres- 
byterian and  Reformed   Churches,   in   order   to 
perfect  the  Plan  and  report  it  for  final  action.. 
All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

Joseph  T.  Smith,  Chairman. 
Fkancis  Brown,  Secretary. 
In  the  Committee  on  Church  Unity. 
Washington,  D.  C,  May  19,  1893. 

PLAN  OF  FEDERATION. 

The  plan  here  proposed  is  typical  of  Church 
unity,  both  in  its  result  and  its  method.  These 
eight  churches  were  widely  separated  by  race, 
by  nationality,  by  traditions,  and  prejudices,  and 
long  and  often  embittered  controversies.  There 
were  found  among  them  all  types  of  Calvin- 
ism, from  the  hig-hest  to  the  lowest.  Varied 
rites  and  forms  of  worship,  from  bald  simplic- 
ity to  liturgical  adornments.  Diverse  theories  of 
church  polity,  from  the  High  Church  Jure  Di- 
vino,  intolerant  and  exclusive  Presbyterianism,  to 
the  Low  Church  Presbyterianism,  which  "em- 
braces in  the  spirit  of  charity  those  Christians 
who  differ  from  us  in  opinion  and  practice  on 
these  subjects."  Yet  with  all  their  seemingly 
irreconcilable  diversities  of  race,  and  culture,  and 
creed,  and  forms  of  worship,  and  theories  of  gov- 
ernment, their  representatives  agree  to  unite. 
The  proposed  union  is  a  real  union,  "  the  gathering 
of  many  into  one."  It  is  not  mere  cooperation 
on  the  one  side,  nor  is  it  absolute  consolidation 
on  the  other.     It  is  a  federal  union.     The  kind 


176  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

of  unity  we  see  exemplified  in  all  departments  of 
organic  life,  the  one  vine  with  its  many  branches, 
the  one  body  with  its  many  members,  the  one 
society  with  its  many  officers  and  administra- 
tions. It  is  the  kind  of  union  made  familiar  to 
us  by  our  civil  constitution,  the  one  nation  with 
its  many  states,  the  strength  of  all  combined  in 
the  nation  for  ends  common  to  all.  The  liberties 
and  interests  of  each  secured  to  the  states  for 
ends  peculiar  to  each.  It  is  unity  without  uni- 
formity,— unity  with  allowed  and  guaranteed 
diversities,  the  only  kind  of  unity  which  at  once 
combines  the  strength  of  all  and  guards  the  lib- 
erties of  each.  The  federation  principle,  which 
has  attained  such  wide  application  in  these  last 
days,  has  solved  some  of  the  most  perplexing 
problems  of  statesmanship.  It  is  the  mediating 
principle  between  despotism  and  anarchy,  and 
the  service  it  has  done  to  the  State  it  stands 
ready  to  do  to  the  Church.  In  the  plan  pro- 
posed, the  eight  churches  are  united  in  the  Fed- 
eral Council,  analogous  to  the  general  govern- 
ment, whose  powers  are  expressly  defined.  Under 
this  the  several  churches,  like  the  states,  have 
their  autonomy  secured  by  express  constitutional 
provision.  The  plan  was  unanimously  adopted 
by  the  representatives  of  the  several  churches, 
and  this  fact  in  itself  gave  ample  assurance  of 
the  prax3ticability  of  federation.  It  had  been 
strange  indeed  if  it  had  not  encountered  objec- 
tions, criticisms  and  oppositions.  The  hardest 
work  either  God  or  man  ever  undertakes  is  that 
of  making  peace.  To  bring  it  down  to  earth  the 
Eternal  Son  must  stoop  from  his  throne  and  die 


APPENDIX.  177 

upon  the  cross,  "  So  by  the  blood  of  his  cross 
making  peace,"  and  nothing  less  than  that  cross 
could  make  peace  between  God  and  man,  and 
peace  between  man  and  man.  The  Assembly 
heartily  approved  of  the  movement  toward  a 
federation  of  Presbyterian  Churches.  The  com- 
mittee were  authorized  to  continue  the  confer- 
ences commenced,  and  mature,  if  possible,  a  plan 
of  federation. 

In  reporting  to  the  Assembly,  the  committee 
say :  "  This  is  now  reported  by  your  committee 
as  a  tentative  and  suggestive  plan  for  the  infor- 
mation of  the  General  Assembly,  in  the  hope 
that  the  Assembly  will  be  gratihed  at  the  prog- 
ress that  the  movement  has  made."  The  com- 
mittee Avere  directed  by  the  Assembly  to  con- 
tinue their  conferences  with  the  committees  of 
other  Presbyterian  Churches  in  order  to  perfect 
the  plan  and  report  it  for  final  action.  Tlie  com- 
mittee, under  this  direction  of  the  General  As- 
sembly, invited  the  representatives  of  the  several 
churches  to  meet  them  in  conferences  which  ex- 
tended over  several  years.  The  plan  of  federa- 
tion which  was  framed  under  the  direction  of 
the  Assembly  was  sent  down  to  the  Presbyteries 
for  their  information  and  advice.  Modifications 
of  the  plan  were  proposed  in  several  particulars, 
and  while  these  were  under  discussion  at  the 
closing  hour  of  an  exhausting  session  of  the  As- 
sembly, a  brother  rose  and  moved  to  lay  the 
whole  subject  on  the  table.  On  such  a  motion, 
at  such  a  time,  there  was  no  opportunity  for  ex- 
planation or  remonstrance.  The  committee  had 
done  precisely  what  the  Assembly  had  directed 


178  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

them  to  do  in  preparing  and  submitting  to  the 
Assembly  the  proposed  plan  of  federation.  On 
their  invitation  the  representatives  of  the  other 
churches  had  all  agreed  to  present  the  plan  to 
the  highest  authority  in  their  respective  churches. 
The  committee  were  greatly  embarrassed  in  their 
attempts  to  reconcile  them  to  what  seemed  a 
discourtesy,  but  the  action  of  the  Assembly  not 
only  put  a  stop  to  the  movement  in  our  own 
church  but  in  all  the  other  churches. 

I  do  not  regard  the  seven  years  spent  in  this 
service  as  lost.  They  were  indeed  laborious 
years.  The  correspondence  they  required  would 
fill  volumes,  but  there  is  no  part  of  my  life  on 
which  I  look  back  with  such  pleasure  and  no 
work  in  which  I  have  been  permitted  to  engage 
as  of  such  transcendent  importance.  The  day 
Avill  surely  come  Avhen  Church  unity  will  be  real- 
ized. There  may  still  be  oppositions,  delays  and 
hindrances,  but  though  the  promise  tarry,  it  will 
surely  come,  and  we  Avill  Avait  for  it  in  the  pa- 
tience of  hope.  The  great  Intercessor  still 
lives,  and  his  prayer  will  surely  be  ansAvered, 
"  That  they  all  may  be  one."  The  faith  of  the 
Church  in  "the  Holy  Catholic  Church"  Avill 
surely  be  turned  into  Ansion.  The  times  Avhen 
these  questions  of  Church  unity  and  federation 
Avere  before  the  Assembly  Avere  A^ery  unfaA^orable 
for  securing  their  full  and  unimpassioned  consid- 
eration. During  those  years  the  body  Avas  occu- 
pied and  agitated  with  questions  relating  to  the 
revision  of  the  Confession,  Avith  trials  for  heresy, 
and  Avith  disturbing  questions  as  to  the  conduct 
of  the  theological  seminaries.     Now  that  these 


APPENDIX.  179 

disturbing  questions  are  settled,  it  might  be  that 
the  conferences,  if  still  continued,  would  secure 
more  unembarrassed  consideration.  The  friend- 
ships formed,  the  hours  of  delightful  communion 
enjoyed  with  the  members  of  the  Commission, 
both  individually  and  collectively,  the  reception 
given  me  as  the  representative  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  by  the  House  of  Bishops  and  the 
House  of  Deputies  at  the  meeting  of  the  General 
Convention  in  Minneapolis  are  among  the  most 
cherished  and  hallowed  memories  of  a  long  life. 


SEEMON" 

BY  EEY.  JOSEPH  T.  SMITH,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 

ON  HIS  EIGHTIETH  BIETHDAY. 


We  are  assembled  here  at  this  unusual  hour  on 
an  unusual  occasion.  The  Presbytery  to  Avhicli 
we  belong  has  invited  you  here  to  listen  to  the 
words  of  an  old  man  of  eighty  Avho  to-day  has 
just  reached  that  goal,  so  far  on  in  the  journey 
of  life  and  so  near  to  its  solemn  end. 

It  was  my  first  thought  to  devote  this  discourse 
to  personal  experiences  and  reminiscences  of  the 
men  and  ministers  I  have  known,  and  of  the 
churches  with  whose  history  I  have  been  con- 
versant for  the  last  half  century.  It  was  con- 
cluded, however,  to  leave  these  experiences  and 
reminiscences  for  a  book,  which  will  afford  ampler 
space,  and  to  give  this  hour  to  a  rapid  review  of 
some  of  the  principal  events  of  the  last  eighty 
years.  Those  years  have  been  crowded  with 
most  momentous  events,  and  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury will  be  forever  memorable  in  history  for  the 
mighty  changes  it  has  wrought  on  the  face  of 
nature  and  in  the  structure  of  human  society. 

I  have  chosen  as  a  text  singularly  appropri- 
ate to  the  occasion  the  words  of  Mordecai  to 
Queen  Esther  in  a  momentous  crisis  of  the  king- 

180 


APPENDIX.  181 

dom.  Esther  iv.  14.  "Who  kiioweth  Avhether 
thou  art  come  to  the  kingdom  for  such  a  time  as 
this?" 

After  the  manner  of  the  Old  Testament  the 
text  embodies  a  general  truth  in  a  specific  exam- 
ple, and  teaches  a  universal  duty  by  the  object 
lesson  of  a  particular  incident.  Passing  by  the 
details  of  the  history,  let  us  take  up  the  great 
truth  which  lies  on  its  surface — opportunities 
make  duties,  and  we  are  debtors  to  the  times  in 
which  we  live  to  understand  their  significance 
that  so  we  may  adjust  our  conduct  to  their  re- 
quirements. 

In  trying  to  understand  the  true  significance 
of  our  time  we  are  not  left  like  the  secular  sci- 
entists and  historians  to  grope  our  way  unaided 
through  a  tangled  and  threadless  labyrinth.  The 
inspired  Word  has  mapped  out  for  us  the  course 
of  events  through  all  the  ages  and  set  up  land- 
marks all  along  the  way,  so  that  we  may  know 
not  only  whence  we  have  come,  but  whither  we 
are  going.  Prophecy  and  Providence  thus  be- 
come mutual  interpreters,  and  we  look  out  upon 
passing  events  not  only  in  the  light  of  the  past, 
but  in  the  clearer  light  of  the  future,  to  which 
they  are  tending. 

From  among  the  events  of  the  last  eighty  years 
we  select  only  those  which  are  palpable  and 
familiar,  seen  and  read  of  all  men,  changes  on 
the  physical  surface  of  the  earth,  increased  facil- 
ities of  intercourse,  improvements  in  the  indus- 
trial arts,  and  advancement  in  all  the  outward 
appliances  of  advancing  civilization.  In  such 
events  as  these,  outward  and  material  as  they 


182  EIGHTY    YEAKS. 

are,  wo  sliall  read  the  forewriting  of  prophecy 
and  see  the  linger  of  God  palpa})ly  pre})aring-  the 
Avay  for  the  coining  of  that  si)iritual  kingdom 
which  is  to  overspread  the  whole  earth. 

We  notice, 

First,  The  opening  of  highways. 

The  building  of  roads  occupies  a  large  space  in 
the  inspired  visions  of  these  last  days.  "  I  will 
make  ail  my  mountains  a  way  and  my  highways 
shall  be  exalted."  "  Cast  up,  cast  up  the  high- 
Avays,  gather  up  the  stones  thereof  and  make  in 
the  desert  a  highway  for  our  God." 

Along  these  highways,  when  built,  "  men  from 
the  North,  and  the  AVest  and  the  land  of  Sinim, 
shall  go  to  and  fro  and  all  nations  shall  flow  to- 
gether." And  along  these  highways,  wherever 
they  go,  as  in  the  opening  of  a  stream  in  the  des- 
ert, life  and  greenness  and  beauty  will  spring  up, 
"  and  the  desert  and  the  solitary  place  shall  blos- 
som as  the  rose." 

How  exactly  the  events  of  the  last  eighty  years 
answer  to  these  prophetic  visions  of  three  thou- 
sand years  ago.  When  this  wilderness  continent 
was  to  be  transformed  into  a  garden,  the  first 
necessity  was  to  build  roads  reaching  out  to  the 
treasures  of  forests,  fields  and  mines,  along  Avhich 
travelers  might  pass  to  and  fro,  and  the  ox  and 
the  horse  drag  their  heavy  burdens  slowly  along. 
The  great  Builder  in  fitting  it  up  for  man's  habi- 
tation, had  opened  broader  highways  than  these 
in  the  majestic  rivers,  which  everywhere  flow 
down  from  the  mountains  to  the  sea.  Within 
these  last  eighty  years  Ave  have  seen  these  all 
linked    together    by    artificial   rivers   affording 


APPENDIX.  183 

waterways  of  easier  transportation  in  every  direc- 
tion. That  was  a  memorable  day  in  1825,  Avhen 
the  Erie  Canal  was  opened,  joining  the  Great  Lakes 
to  the  Atlantic,  turning  the  wilderness  of  West- 
ern N'ew  York  into  a  garden,  and  pouring  the 
treasures  of  the  great  West  into  the  warehouses 
of  the  great  metropolis. 

But  roads  and  canals  were  too  cumbrous  and 
too  slow  for  the  exigencies  of  the  last  days,  and, 
within  the  last  fifty  years,  we  have  seen  highways 
cast  up  strong  as  iron,  smooth  as  glass,  whirling 
their  steam-yoked  cars  along  almost  with  the 
rapidity  of  the  eagle's  flight.  Railroads  are  but 
things  of  yesterday,  yet  we  have  grown  already 
so  familiar  with  the  spectacle  that  we  have  almost 
ceased  to  wonder.  It  was  not  till  about  1830 
that  the  building  of  that  great  network  of  rail- 
roads which  now  covers  the  continent  ^vas 
fairly  commenced.  The  Baltimore  and  Ohio, 
the  first  interstate  railroad  projected,  was  slowly 
drawn  out  to  the  base  of  the  AUeghenies.  It 
had  been  proved  by  figures  that  no  locomotive 
could  cross  the  mountains,  but  the  impossible 
was  at  last  achieved,  and  the  AUeghenies  were 
passed.  From  their  Avestern  base  iron  high- 
ways branching  off  in  every  direction  as  they 
advanced,  reached  at  last  the  banks  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, and  here  all  further  progress  was  ar- 
rested, for  just  beyond  was  the  great  American 
desert  of  our  boyhood  maps.  There  were  vast 
plains  and  prairies,  the  home  of  the  buffalo  and 
of  wild  beasts  and  wilder  men,  and  beyond  was 
the  vast  desert,  more  terrible  than  the  simoon- 
swept  Sahara,  or  the  great  and  terrible  wilder- 


184  EIGHTY   YEAES. 

ness  of  the  wanderings,  and  still  beyond  were 
the  Rocky  Mountains  towering  to  the  clouds 
and  interposing  an  impassable  barrier  of  rock 
and  ice.  But  again  the  impossible  was  achieved 
and  the  Atlantic  was  joined  to  the  Pacific. 
That  Avas  a  day  never  to  be  forgotten  in  1860, 
when  the  last  spike  was  driven  into  the  inter- 
oceanic  railroad.  Machinery  had  been  so  ad- 
justed that  every  stroke  of  the  hammer  was 
repeated  by  the  tick  of  the  telegraph  in  every 
direction,  and  when  the  last  stroke  was  lieard, 
booming  cannon  and  ringing  bells,  and  shouts  of 
multitudes  in  all  the  villages  and  cities  of  the 
land  hailed  the  great  achievemeiit.  Fifty  years 
ago  there  was  not  a  railroad  west  of  the  Alle- 
ghenies.  To-day  they  cover  the  continent  in 
every  direction,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific, 
and  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  Gulf.  The 
prophetic  vision  is  fulfilled.  Mountains  are  made 
a  way,  and  valleys  are  exalted,  and  in  the  desert 
a  highway  is  made  for  our  God.  "Wherever  the 
railroad  goes,  hamlets,  and  towns,  and  cities 
spring  up  along  its  side  and  the  song  of  reapers, 
and  the  hum  of  machinery,  and  music  of  church 
bells  is  heard,  and  the  desert  and  the  solitary 
place  rejoice. 

And  not  on  this  continent  alone,  but  these  high- 
ways are  beginning  to  engirdle  the  whole  earth. 
Already  they  span  the  entire  continent  of  Europe ; 
already  they  have  invaded  Asia,  waking  the 
slumbering  millions  of  China,  and  India,  and 
Japan  into  new  life ;  already  they  have  passed 
over  into  the  Dark  Continent,  traversing  the  sandy 
desert  from  the  Nile  to  the  Red  Sea,  and  waking 


APPENDIX.  185 

the  slumbering  echoes  of  the  Congo  Yalley. 
Mountains  and  deserts  are  no  longer  prison  walls, 
and  all  barriers  to  intercourse  have  disappeared 
from  the  land.  Across  the  sea,  indeed,  no  high- 
way could  be  built,  but  we  have  seen  it  in  these 
last  days  almost  bridged.  Look  at  Paul  as  he 
started  out  in  his  mission  around  the  world  in  his 
little  rude,  uncom passed  ship,  stealing  closely 
along  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  look- 
ing out  upon  the  trackless  waters  of  the  Great  Sea 
beyond,  over  which  no  pilot  could  guide  his  bark. 
Then  look  at  the  modern  missionary  as  he  em- 
barks in  a  majestic  steamship,  strong  to  defy 
winds  and  waves,  Avith  its  pilot  compass  with  fixed 
finger  guiding  its  course  across  the  widest  oceans. 

Columbus  wrote  in  his  first  letter  from  the 
New  World  to  Queen  Isabella  ''  The  earth  is 
small,  much  smaller  than  I  supposed."  Ever 
since  it  has  been  growing  smaller,  until  to-day 
it  is  contracted  almost  to  a  span.  All  barriers 
to  intercourse  on  the  land  have  been  surmounted, 
and  the  wide  seas  have  been  converted  into  great 
highways  of  travel  and  commerce.  The  nations 
of  the  earth  are  beginning  to  gather  together  as 
one  family  around  one  fireside.  Christendom 
stands  face  to  face  with  heathendom,  and  a  high- 
way is  made  for  our  God,  broader  and  stronger 
than  those  old  Roman  roads  along  which  the 
first  heralds  of  the  gospel  carried  the  glad  tid- 
ings to  the  nations. 

We  pass  to  a  second  event. 

Second,  The  casting  down  of  thrones. 

"  I  beheld,"  says  the  seer  in  his  sublime  vision 
of  the  last  days,  "  till  the  thrones  were  cast  down, 


186  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

and  the  Ancient  of  days  did  sit."  Thrones, — im- 
perial thrones,  kingly  thrones,  feudal  thrones, 
priestl}^  thrones,  despotic  thrones  of  every  name, 
— how  these  have  filled  the  whole  earth,  resting 
as  a  deadly  incubus  upon  the  nations,  crushing- 
individuals  into  masses,  and  converting  men  into 
serfs  and  chattels!  Society,  instead  of  being  the 
friend  and  helper,  has  been  the  deadliest  enemy 
of  man.  Eulers,  instead  of  being  "  like  the  light 
of  the  morning  when  the  sun  riseth,  even  a 
morning  without  clouds,"  have  been  baleful  me- 
teors blazing  through  the  sky  scattering  blight 
and  desolation  on  every  side. 

It^is  a  strange  histor}^  that  of  thrones ;  and  the 
Bible  gives  us  their  genesis.  They  ^vere  founded 
by  Nimrod,  the  mighty  hunter,  while  the  earth 
was  yet  wet  with  the  Avaters  of  the  deluge.  When 
he  had  built  Eabjdon  and  Kineveh,  the  first  cit- 
ies, he  laid  in  them  the  foundations  of  those  gi- 
gantic despotisms  which  in  long  succession  cursed 
the  earth  for  so  many  ages.  Under  them  there 
were  no  men,  but  only  masses,  masses  of  blood, 
and  bone,  and  brain,  and  muscle,  welded  into  a 
single  machine  and  wielded  by  a  single  despotic 
will.  What  a  terrible  picture  the  prophet  gives 
us  of  the  last  of  these  great  world  empires :  "  It 
was  dreadful,  terrible  and  strong  exceedingly, 
devouring,  breaking  in  pieces  and  stamping  the 
residue  with  the  feet  thereof."  AVhen  the 
Roman  empire  was  shattered  into  fragments, 
rude,  blood-stained  robber  chiefs  from  the  frozen 
Xorth  set  up  their  mimic  thrones  on  its  ruins. 
They  too,  like  the  old  despots,  proclaimed  them- 
selves  gods,  ruling   over   men  by  divine  right, 


•      APPENDIX.  187 

lords  at  once  of  their  bodies  and  their  souls. 
Strange  that  men  should  so  renounce  their  man- 
hood, and  crawl  cringing  and  crouching  at  the 
feet  of  a  mortal  weak  as  themselves. 

Not  always  have  they  bowed  willingly  to  the 
yoke  of  their  masters.  History  is  largely  made 
up  of  the  bloody  stories  of  revolts,  rebellions, 
revolutions,  uprisings  of  the  people  to  cast  down 
the  thrones  of  tyrants. 

Kever  has  there  been  such  a  casting  down  of 
thrones  as  in  these  last  days.  In  the  closing 
years  of  the  last  century,  in  France,  the  central 
kingdom  of  Europe,  there  was  a  great  earth- 
quake, and  the  thrones  of  king,  and  lords,  and 
priests,  were  leveled  to  the  dust.  The  long  op- 
pressed people  rose  up  in  their  manhood  and 
their  might  and  proclaimed  "liberty,  equality 
and  fraternity  "  throughout  all  the  land  to  all 
the  inhabitants  thereof.  Napoleon,  at  the  head 
of  his  resistless  legions,  swept  over  Europe  like  a 
cyclone,  leveling  thrones,  uncrowning  kings,  and 
sweeping  the  whole  continent  clear  of  the  old 
tyrants  of  every  name.  True,  nations  long  en- 
slaved, knew  not  yet  how  to  be  free,  and  kings 
attempted  once  more  to  rebuild  their  ruined 
thrones,  but  all  in  vain.  "  The  divinity  that 
hedges  about  a  throne "  is  gone  forever.  We 
saw  the  people  again  in  1848,  rising  up  in  their 
might,  and  causing  every  throne  in  Europe  to 
totter  to  its  fall.  How  marvel ously  popular 
freedom  has  advanced  within  the  last  eighty 
years.  At  the  beginning  of  this  century  there  was 
not  a  constitutional  government  in  any  nation  of 
Europe.     To-day  there  is  scarcely  one  without  it. 


188  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

It  was  in  a  little  island  of  the  sea,  and  by  the 
late-born  Anglo-Saxon,  the  battle  of  freedom 
was  fought  and  won  for  the  race.  The  Anglo- 
Saxon  was  born  at  Runnymede  and  his  infant 
liberties  Avere  cradled  in  Magna  Charta.  The 
barons,  after  long  and  bloody  conflicts,  had 
wrested  their  liberty  from  the  king,  and  then 
the  serfs,  after  still  longer  and  bloodier  conflict, 
won  their  liberty  from  the  barons,  and  the  Eng- 
lish people  at  last  were  free.  The  kingly  throne 
of  Charles  and  the  priestly  throne  of  Laud  were 
cast  down  together.  A  free  Commonwealth, 
modeled  after  the  pattern  which  God  had  given 
long  before  in  the  Jewish  Commonwealth,  was 
set  up,  and  never  again,  struggle  for  it  as  they 
may,  can  the  throne  of  a  Stuart  or  the  throne  of 
a  Laud,  be  set  up  in  the  fatherland.  That  little 
island  was  too  small  and  too  much  cumbered 
Avith  the  rubbish  and  ruins  of  old  abuses  for  the 
full  development  of  the  newly  won  freedom.  A 
larger  and  broader,  and  cleaner  theater  was 
needed,  and  that  God  had  prepared  in  a  new 
world  hidden  away  beyond  the  seas.  When  the 
fullness  of  time  had  come,  the  little  Mayflower, 
like  the  Ark  of  the  deluge,  laden  with  the  pre- 
cious freightage  from  which  the  new  world  Avas 
to  be  peopled,  was  guided  to  its  shores,  and  the 
great  Eepublic  of  the  West  appeared.  There 
thrones  are  things  unknoAvn ;  the  people  are 
their  own  rulers  and  that  strange  thing  appears 
on  the  earth  "  a  government  of  the  people,  and 
for  the  people,  and  by  the  people."  The  pre- 
cious heritage  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  God 
has  given  to  the  Anglo-Saxon,  not  for  himself, 


APPENDIX.  189 

but  in  trust  for  the  world.  Kot  for  his  own 
sake  has  God  exalted  him  and  given  him  the 
dominion  in  these  last  days.  Of  Israel  of  old, 
the  greatest  benefactor  of  the  world,  it  was  said 
"  a  Syrian  ready  to  perish  Avas  his  father."  The 
Anglo-Saxon's  father  was  a  grim  savage,  prowl- 
ing through  Druid  groves,  stained  all  over  Avith 
the  blood  of  human  sacrifice,  and  something  of 
his  old  savagery  he  still  retains,  something  of  his 
old  pride  and  masterfulness,  something  of  his  old 
contempt  for  inferior  races  and  disregard  of  their 
interest.  Too  often  in  his  treatment  of  them  he 
has  forgotten  that  while  "  it  is  excellent  to  have 
a  giant's  strength  it  is  tyrannous  to  use  it  like  a 
giant."  But  with  all  his  faults,  God  has  raised 
him  up  and  anointed  him  to  be  tlie  herald  of 
popular  freedom  to  benighted  nations.  "Wher- 
ever he  goes, — and  Avhere  does  he  not  go  ? — up 
and  down  the  earth,  the  blessings  of  Christian 
civilization  attend  his  steps. 

To-day  as  Ave  look  abroad  over  the  earth  in 
Avhat  large  portions  of  it  are  thrones  of  depotism 
utterly  cast  down !  Hoav  the  masses  are  begin- 
ning to  struggle  up  into  living  men  !  Hoav  the 
individual  soul,  more  precious  than  all  the  world, 
and  so  long  lost  in  the  mass,  is  beginning  to  rise 
up  and  make  ready  to  meet  the  Lord  of  souls  at 
his  coming ! 

A  third  event. 

Third,  The  increase  of  knoAvledge. 

"Many  shall  run  to  and  fro  and  knowledge 
shall  be  increased."  For  long  ages  knoAvledge 
had  been  the  inheritance  of  the  chosen  few.  In 
all   ages   and   in  all  lands  the  great  multitude 


190  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

have  been  ignorant,  degraded,  groveling  in  the 
mire  of  sensuality  and  sin,  till  the  image  of  God 
scarce  towered  above  the  brute.  In  the  last 
days  the  sun  of  knowledge  Avill  rise  upon  the 
long  midnight  of  the  world  and  scatter  its  dark- 
ness. The  mass  of  minds  so  long  a  dead  sea  of 
sluggishness,  will  be  stirred  by  strong  winds  into 
new  life.  The  dynasty  of  mind  will  succeed  to 
that  of  brute  force,  and  the  power  of  knowledge 
will  supersede  the  power  of  the  sword. 

Has  not  this  Scripture  been  fulfilled  before 
our  eyes,  in  the  marvelous  increase  of  knowledge 
in  these  last  days  ?  The  stars  no  longer  weave 
their  mazy  dances  and  describe  their  lawless  and 
fantastic  motions  through  the  sky.  The  astron- 
omer has  followed  them  in  their  farthest  wander- 
ings and  tracked  them  to  their  remotest  hiding 
places,  resolved  their  nebulae,  disentangled  their 
milky  waj^s,  weighed  their  worlds  in  balances, 
and  stretched  his  lines  and  measuring  rods  over 
the  broad  fields  of  space.  The  geologist,  descend- 
ing deep  down  below  the  earth's  surface,  is  grop- 
ing among  its  deep  foundations  and  reading  in  its 
rocky  archives  its  eventful  history  from  the  first 
beginning.  The  chemist,  passing  by  the  grosser 
forms  of  matter,  is  grasping  after  the  subtler  ele- 
ments of  which  masses  are  made  and  the  spirit- 
like forces  by  which  they  are  ruled.  The  biolo- 
gist is  daring  the  more  baffling  problem  of  life 
and  organism,  and  the  socialist  is  attempting  the 
still  more  baffling  problem  of  corporate  life  and 
social  organism.  And  so  in  every  department 
of  science  and  art.  In  the  greater  world  of  the 
telescope,  and  the  smaller  world  of  the  micro- 


APPENDIX.  191 

scope,  the  area  of  knowledge  has  been  enlarged 
in  every  direction. 

With  this  increase  of  knowledge  has  come  its 
wider  diffusion.  Books  are  no  longer  laboriously^ 
written  on  parchment  and  locked  up  in  monkish 
cells  or  scholastic  cloisters  ;  they  are  flung  off  by 
steam  presses  with  lightning-like  rapidity  and 
scattered  around  like  autumn  leaves  or  morn- 
ing dewdrops.  Papers,  magazines,  lyceums  and 
common  schools  are  carrying  knowledge  to 
the  cottages  of  the  poor  and  making  it  like  air 
and  sunlight,  the  common  inheritance  of  the 
race. 

The  knowledge  of  these  last  days  so  in- 
creased demanded  a  better  organ  of  speech  than 
the  tongue  and  the  steam-press,  and  a  swifter 
post  than  the  railroad.  AVithin  the  last  eighty 
years  we  have  seen  slender  poles  set  up  and 
along  them  an  iron  wire  stretched  as  a  highAvay 
through  the  air.  Then  the  lightnings,  the  swift- 
est of  messengers,  were  called  down  from  the 
clouds,  and  the  challenge  of  Job  seems  at  last  to 
be  answered:  "Canst  thou  send  out  lightnings 
that  they  may  go  and  return  again,  and  say  here 
w^e  are  ?  "  They  did  come  and  stand  around  as 
winged  messengers,  ready  to  convey  man's  mes- 
sages Avhithersoever  he  would.  No  poles  could 
be  set  up  along  the  sea,  indeed,  but  a  way  was 
prepared  for  the  lightning  deep  down  beneath 
the  track  of  the  steamships  and  the  highways  of 
the  sea  monsters.  The  Avide  globe  is  engirdled, 
the  ends  of  the  earth  are  brought  together,  and 
thought  at  last  has  found  a  messenger  swift  as 
itself. 


192  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

Even  familiarity  cannot  altogether  blind  us  to 
the  more  than  magic  wonder  of  the  telegraph. 
Who  can  ever  forget  the  emotions  with  which 
the  first  message  from  across  the  sea  was  re- 
ceived ?  Early  one  morning  in  1869  a  little 
company  was  seen  on  the  Atlantic  shore  gath- 
ered around  a  weird-looking  instrument,  wait- 
ing, watching,  listening,  when  suddenly  there 
fell  upon  their  ears  from  the  other  shore,  three 
thousand  miles  away,  these  words  "  Glory  to 
God  in  the  highest,  and  on  earth  peace,  good  will 
toward  men."  Some  two  thousand  3^ears  before 
those  same  words,  spoken  by  an  angel  from  the 
sky,  fell  upon  the  ears  of  the  wondering  shepherds 
of *^  Bethleliem,  and  now  they  are  spoken  again  to 
those  listeners  on  the  seashore  by  an  angel  mes- 
senger scarce  less  spirit-like. 

How'slowl}^,  yet  surely,  man  has  been  recover- 
ing his  lost  dominion  over  the  earth  !  The  horse 
had  long  borne  his  burdens,  and  the  dog  kept 
watch  over  his  folds.  The  screw  and  the  lever 
had  performed  the  work  of  his  muscles,  the 
winds  had  propelled  his  ships,  and  the  tumbling 
waters  had  driven  his  machiner3^  But  within 
the  last  fifty  years  he  has  laid  his  hand  upon  the 
lightnings  and  compelled  electricity,  the  might- 
iest of  all  forces,  the  prime  minister  of  Jehovah, 
to  do  his  bidding,  and  with  such  a  power  at  his 
command  his  lost  dominion  must  be  recovered. 
Once  again,  he  will  be  proclaimed  sovereign  of 
earth  and  again  his  coronation  hymn  will  be 
sung  :  "  Thou  hast  made  him  a  little  lower  than 
the  angels,  and  hast  crowned  with  glory  and 
honor.     Thou  madest  him  to  have  dominion  over 


APPENDIX.  193 

the  works  of  thy  hands ;  thou  hast  put  all  things 
under  his  feet." 

Now  that  the  physical  earth  is  being  reno- 
vated, noAV  that  man  is  being  emancipated  and 
restored  to  the  dignity  of  manhood,  now  that 
knowledge  is  increased,  and  everywhere  dif- 
fused, the  way  of  the  Messiah  is  prepared  and 
the  kingdom  of  righteousness  and  peace  and  joy 
and  the  Holy  Ghost  will  surely  and  speedily  be 
set  up.  How  strangely  then,  reads  the  following 
sign  of  the  last  days  : 

Fourth,  "  In  the  last  days  perilous  times  shall 
come."  And  here  is  the  inspired  picture  of  those 
perilous  times. 

^'  Men  shall  be  lovers  of  their  own  selves,  cov- 
etous, boasters,  proud,  blasphemers,  disobedient 
to  parents,  unthankful,  unholy,  without  natural 
affection,  truce  breakers,  false  accusers,unconti- 
nent,  fierce,  despisers  of  those  that  are  good, 
traitors,  heady,  high-minded,  lovers  of  pleasures 
more  than  lovers  of  God ;  having  a  form  of  god- 
liness, but  denying  the  power  thereof." 

Nowhere  have  material  improvements  and 
popular  freedom  and  popular  education  and  in- 
tellectual enlightenment  reacheil  such  perfection 
as  in  this  land  of  ours.  And  yet,  shrink  from  it 
as  we  may,  must  we  not  recognize  our  own  fea- 
tures in  this  picture  of  the  last  days?  Look 
around  you.  What  selfishness !  What  greed ! 
What  pride  !  What  incontinence  !  What  faith- 
lessness !  What  bitter  rivalries  and  competitions 
in  trade  where  each  is  mindful  of  his  own  things ! 
What  fierce  conflicts  between  capital  and  labor, 
shaking  the  very  foundations  of  society,  corpora- 


194  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

tions  and  syndicates  on  the  one  side,  arrayed 
against  labor  leagues  and  labor  unions  on  the 
other  !  What  lawlessness  !  What  mob  violence, 
threatening  at  times  to  bring  back  the  reign  of 
brute  force!  What  frauds  at  the  ballot  box, 
what  corruption  in  city  councils  and  state  legis- 
latures !  What  open  revolts  against  all  rightful 
authority,  both  human  and  divine  !  a  striving  to 
convert  men  into  a  herd  of  wild  beasts  to  be 
ruled  by  the  strongest !  Agrarianism,  commu- 
nism, nihilism,  agnosticism,  their  name  is  legion ! 
What  terrible  scenes  in  assassinations,  burnings, 
destructions  they  have  already  Avrought,  and 
what  terrible  things  they  threaten ! 

Toward  the  close  of  the  last  days,  we  are  told, 
a  mightier  destroyer  than  any  of  these  shall  ap- 
pear. He  is  neither  the  despotic  Caesar,  nor  the 
false  prophet,  nor  the  pope,  but  an  Apoll^^on  far 
mightier  than  they.  His  name  is  Antichrist  and 
his  distinctive  mark  is  atheism.  He  denies  "  both 
the  Father  and  the  Son  '•  and  so  denies  the  true 
God.  He  denies  "his  father's  God  and  every 
God,"  banishes  all  supernatural  beings  from  the 
world,  says  with  the  fool,  "  There"  is  no  God." 
Sages  of  old  had  often  said  that  atheism  is  im- 
possible, and  Cicero  long  ago  declared  that  no 
nation  or  people  was  ever  found  without  a  god. 
But  toward  the  close  of  the  last  century  an  entire 
nation  was  seen  openly  abjuring  God  and  pro- 
claiming by  solemn  statute,  "  There  is  no  God." 
From  France  the  deadly  poison  spread  through 
the  colleges  and  universities  of  Europe  and 
America.  Godless  scientists,  with  fell  industry, 
labored  to  substitute  brute  matter,  or  blind  force, 


APPENDIX.  195 

for  tlie  living  Gocl,  banish  all  supernatural  exist- 
ences and  leave  the  Avorld  orphaned  indeed. 
From  the  high  places  of  learning  we  have  seen 
the  infection  spread  through  all  classes  of  society. 
Popular  lecturers,  popular  novels,  magazines,  re- 
views, the  whole  body  of  popular  literature,  was 
infected,  and  untold  numbers  say  with  the  fool  in 
their  heart,  "  There  is  no  God,"  and  live  without 
God  in  the  world.  Antichrist  incarnate,  personi- 
fied atheism  has  come.  Godlessness,  the  denial 
of  God,  the  forgetfulness  of  God,  the  living  as  if 
there  were  no  God,  practical  atheism,  is  the 
grand  characteristic  of  our  age  beyond  all  that 
has  gone  before. 

Popular  education,  intellectual  culture,  ma- 
terial advancement,  all  the  boasted  progress  of 
the  age,  leading  on  toward  atheism  and  anarchy ! 
And  if  this  be  so,  what  hope  remains  for  the 
race  ?  Is  not  the  demonstration  of  the  pessimist 
complete,  that  the  end  is  utter  ruin  ?  Yes,  there 
is  no  hope  for  man  in  himself ;  no  hope  in  ma- 
terial advancement  and  intellectual  enlighten- 
ment. Help  must  come  from  without ;  God  must 
interpose  or  man  is  undone,  and  God  does  inter- 
pose. 

Here  is  the  last  sign  of  the  last  days  : 

Fifth,  "  It  shall  come  to  pass  in  the  last  days 
that  I  will  pour  out  my  Spirit  upon  all  flesh." 

The  Divine  Spirit  shall  descend  upon  the 
troubled  waters  of  human  society  as  of  old  on 
the  unformed  chaos,  and  under  his  plastic  influ- 
ence, the  new  heavens  and  new  earth,  wherein 
dwelleth  righteousness,  shall  appear.  If  history 
teaches  any  one  lesson  it  is  that  there  is  no  re- 


196  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

cuperative  power  in  humanity,  that  the  highest 
intellectual  enlightenment  may  be  found  in  con- 
nection with  the  deepest  moral  and  spiritual  de- 
basement. Until  man's  moral  nature  is  changed 
by  the  new  creative  power  of  the  Divine  Spirit, 
no  matter  what  his  environment,  he  will  sink  into 
lower  and  still  lower  depths  of  moral  degrada- 
tion. Look  at  the  Roman  empire  in  its  palmy 
days.  The  Augustine  age  of  learning,  the  age  of 
Yirgil,  and  Horace,  and  Seneca,  and  Cicero,  the 
age  which  transformed  Rome  from  a  city  of  mud 
into  a  city  of  marble  and  filled  it  with  temples, 
and  palaces,  and  triumphal  arches,  and  master- 
pieces of  art.  And  yet  it  is  of  Rome,  in  that 
very  Augustine  age,  the  Apostle  draws  that  fear- 
ful picture  of  moral  debasement  in  the  first 
chapter  of  Romans.  What  monsters  of  cruelty 
and  lust  Avere  those  old  Roman  emperors,  the 
Caesars !  What  nameless  infamies,  in  the  man- 
sions of  the  rich,  as  well  as  in  the  hovels  of  the 
poor  !  How  her  Ovids,  in  mellifluous  lines,  glori- 
fied the  basest  of  vices ;  and  her  senators,  openly 
and  without  shame,  reveled  in  nameless  deeds, 
w^hich  elsewhere  shunned  the  light  of  day !  If 
no  intellectual  elevation  surpassed  that  of  the 
Augustine  age,  no  moral  degradation  ever 
equaled  it.  It  was  in  this  gloomy  midnight  of 
the  world,  a  little  company  were  gathered  in  an 
upper  room  in  Jerusalem,  and  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  descended  upon  them  as  a  spirit  of  power. 
From  that  upper  room  they  scattered  abroad 
over  the  empire,  ignorant  and  unlearned  men, 
and  Avherever  they  went  preaching  Christ,  idols 
tottered,  superstitions  vanished,  and  thrones  fell 


APPENDIX.  197 

down  before  them.  Within  three  centuries  the 
religion  of  Christ  was  proclaimed  the  religion  of 
the  empire.  As  the  first  triumphs  of  the  gospel 
were  ushered  in  by  Pentecost,  so  also  shall  the 
last  be. 

Has  not  the  promised  Pentecost  already  come 
in  the  signs  and  wonders  of  the  earlier  years  of 
this  century?  My  memory  goes  back  to  those 
days  for  their  traditions  were  still  fresh,  their 
trophies  were  all  around  and  something  of  their 
old  power  still  remained.  It  was  in  an  age  of 
abounding  worldliness  and  widespread  immoral- 
ity. Dr.  1)  wight  has  drawn  a  picture  of  the 
times  dark  almost  as  Paul's  picture  of  the  Ko- 
mans.  It  was  in  the  midst  of  these  evil  days  the 
Spirit  was  poured  out  from  on  high.  It  came 
suddenly  upon  the  disciples  as  in  the  uppei*  room. 
It  rested  upon  them  as  a  spirit  of  poAver.  It 
came  upon  careless  and  impenitent  souls  as  a 
spirit  of  conviction  and  the  powers  of  the  world 
to  come  took  hold  upon  them.  It  fell  upon  the 
reapers  in  the  field,  upon  the  workman  at  his 
bench,  upon  the  merchant  in  his  counting  room, 
upon  the  pastor  in  his  study,  upon  the  great  con- 
gregation in  the  sanctuary.  Ko  walls  could  hold 
the  multitudes  that  thirsted  for  the  bread  of  life. 
They  gathered  for  scores  of  miles  around  in  the 
open  fields,  or  in  the  tented  grove,  and  there  day 
after  day,  and  night  after  night,  the  scenes  of 
Pentecost  were  repeated.  All  over  the  East  and 
still  more  signally  over  the  West,  in  Western 
Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio  and  Tennessee,  souls  in 
uncounted  numbers  were  born  unto  God.  Almost 
every  house  became  a  Bethel.     Christians  were 


198  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

revived  and  strengthened  and  lifted  up  into  a 
higher  plane  in  life.  The  missionary  spirit  was 
breathed  into  the  Church.  All  our  great  mis- 
sionary societies  had  their  origin  in  those  re- 
vivals, and  the  Church  roused  from  her  long 
slumbers  addressed  herself  at  last  to  her  groat 
work  the  conversion  of  the  world. 

And  why  is  not  the  world  converted  ?  God 
has  gone  before,  broken  down  every  barrier  to 
the  spread  of  the  gospel.  He  has  given  to  Chris- 
tian nations  wealth,  power,  and  all  needful  ap- 
pliances, lie  has  furnished  his  Church  witli  the 
ministry,  oracles  and  ordinances,  and  appointed 
her  as  the  herald  of  salvation  to  the  world.  He 
has  given  the  promised  Spirit  to  make  all  these 
effectual.  Why,  then,  we  repeat  it,  is  not  the 
world  converted  ?  There  is  only  one  answer  to 
the  question.  The  Church,  the  ordained  institute 
of  salvation,  has  proved  unfaitliful  to  her  high 
mission.  There  is  no  unfaithfulness  with  God. 
He  has  given  his  Spirit  in  these  last  days, 
but  his  people  have  grieved  him  away  by 
their  worldliness,  their  carnality,  and  their 
self-seeking.  The  Church,  by  her  strifes  and 
divisions,  has  lost  the  spirit  of  charity,  and 
flung  away  the  badge  of  brotherly  love  by 
which  she  was  to  be  known  to  the  world.  She 
has  wasted  her  energies  in  internal  strifes  and 
consumed  her  resources  in  building  up  walls  of 
separation  from  her  brethren  in  Christ.  When 
the  Church  is  one  then  will  the  great  Mediator's 
prayer  be  fulfilled  and  the  world  will  believe 
that  thou  hast  sent  me.  The  world  will  be  con- 
verted when  the  Church  is  one.     Dying  souls  all 


APPENDIX.  199 

around  us,  a  dying  world,  is  waiting  for  a  united 
and  consecrated  Church.  God,  indeed,  might 
have  chosen  other  instrumentalities,  or  dispensed 
with  all  instrumentalities,  but  he  has  chosen  the 
Church  as  the  instrument  of  salvation  and  if  that 
prove  unfaithful  all  is  lost.  Faith  cometh  by 
hearing.  How  shall  they  hear  without  a  preacher  ? 
and  how  shall  they  preach  except  they  be  sent? 
If  God's  silver  and  gold  are  kept  back  from  his 
treasury  how  shall  the  heralds  of  salvation  be 
sent  abroad  upon  his  errands.  "Return  unto 
me  and  I  will  return  unto  you,"  saith  the  Lord. 
*' Bring  ye  all  the  tithes  into  the  storehouse, 
.  .  .  and  prove  me  now  herewith,  saith  the 
Lord  of  hosts,  if  I  will  not  open  you  the  windows 
of  heaven,  and  pour  you  out  a  blessing,  that 
there  shall  not  be  room  enough  to  receive  it." 
*'  Awake,  awake ;  .  .  .  O  Zion  ;  put  on  thy 
beautiful  garments,  O  Jerusalem,  for  ,  .  . 
the  Lord  hath  made  bare  his  holy  arm  in  the 
eyes  of  all  the  nations." 


A  DISCOUKSE 

Delivered  May  22,  1859,  by 

THE  KEY.  JOSEPH  T.  SMITH, 

Pastor  of  Second  Presbyterian  Church, 

Baltimore, 

on  the 

LIFE  AND  CHAEACTEE  OF  THE 

EEV.  HENEY  Y.  D.  JOHN^S,  D.  D.,  LATE 

EECTOE  OF  EMANUEL  CHUECH, 

BALTIMOEE. 

Fo7'  me  to  live  is  Christ,  and  to  die  is  gain. — 
Phil.  i.  21. 

These  words  Avere  penned  by  the  Apostle 
Avhile  a  prisoner  in  Eome,  and  just  upon  the  eve 
of  his  trial.  They  may  be  regarded  as  his  last 
words — the  deliberate  testimony  of  a  Christian 
minister,  uttered  while  standing  upon  the  border- 
line between  life  and  death,  calmly  surve3nng 
both.  In  writing  to  the  Philippians,  who  seem 
to  have  been  to  him  Avhat  the  family  of  Bethany 
was  to  the  Master,  the  Apostle  admits  them  to  the 
inmost  secrecies  of  his  soul  in  that  solemn  hour. 
He  tells  them  how  he  is  "  in  a  strait  betwixt 
two  " — having  "  a  desire  to  depart,  and  be  Avitli 
Christ,"  yet  wishing  still  "to  abide  with  them 
in  the  flesh  ;  "  longing  for  his  rest  and  his  reAvard, 
yet  Avilling  to  labor  and  to  suffer.  And  then,  in 
tlie  volume-embracing  words  of  our  text,  he  sums 

200 


APPENDIX.  201 

up  liis  Avhole  estimate  of  those  two  tremendous 
facts,  Life  and  Death.  "  For  to  me  to  live  is 
Christ,  and  to  die  is  gain."  As  if  he  had  said, 
*'  I  live,  yet  not  I,  bat  Christ,  who  is  my  life, 
liveth  in  me;  and  the  life  that  I  now  live,  I  live 
by  Faith  in  the  Son  of  God.  I  live  not  unto  my- 
self, but  unto  him  who  loved  me,  and  gave  himself 
for  me.  Christ  is  the  beginning  and  the  end  ;  the 
center  and  the  circumference;  the  all  in  all  of  my 
being.  I  live  for  no  selfish  or  secular  end  ;  for 
nothing  which  men  seek  after,  or  the  Avorld 
can  bestow.  Accounting  my  life  as  but  a  season 
and  an  opportunity  for  doing  good,  I  live  only  to 
labor  for  Christ,  and  to  fill  up  what  is  behind  of 
his  sufferings,  and  I  am  willing  to  live  for  Christ. 
But  '  to  die  is  gain ' — infinite  and  everlasting 
gain.  I  shrink  not  from  the  approach  of  the  last 
enemy,  for  to  me  Christ  hath  abolished  Death, 
and  put  these  words  of  triumph  in  my  mouth : 
O  !  Death,  where  is  thy  sting  ?  O !  Grave,  where 
is  thy  victory  ?  The  sting  of  Death  is  sin,  and 
the  strength  of  sin  is  the  law ;  but  thanks  be 
to  God  who  giveth  us  the  victory,  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  And  then  Faith  looks  be- 
yond and  above.  Henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for 
me  a  crown  of  righteousness.  In  my  Father's 
house  are  many  mansions,  and  Christ  has  gone 
before  to  prepare  a  place  for  me,  and  it  will  be 
gain  for  me  to  be  at  home — forever  at  home — 
with  him." 

Our  detailed  exposition  of  the  text  will  be 
found  in  the  life  and  death  of  that  man  of  God, 
who  has  just  been  removed  from  among  us  to 
join  the  great  cloud  of  witnesses  above.     We  un- 


202  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

dertake  this  service  as  a  feeble  tribute  to  departed 
worth — as  a  new  testimony  to  the  grace  of  God 
toward  his  servants,  in  life  and  in  death — and  as 
a  fresh  incentive  to  renewed  diligence  in  the  duties 
of  our  high  calling.  It  is  not  of  the  man  we 
would  speak,  but  of  the  disciple.  It  is  not  the 
man  we  would  glorify,  but  the  grace  of  God 
which  was  "  exceeding  abundant  "  toward  him. 
And  our  design  in  this  service  will  be  altogether 
frustrated  if  it  do  not  redound  to  the  praise  of 
the  glory  of  God's  grace. 

The  Kev.  Henry  Van  Dyke  Johns,  D.  D.,  was 
born  in  Newcastle,  Delaware,  on  the  13th  day  of 
October,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1803.  He  was  tlie 
descendant  of  an  old  Maryland  family,  founded 
by  Eichard  Johns,  who  emigrated  from  EngUmd 
and  settled  in  Calvert  County  in  1717.  He  was 
the  son  of  the  late  Judge  Kensey  Johns,  and 
brother  of  the  late  Chancellor  of  Delaware,  and 
of  the  present  Bishop  of  Virginia.  He  inherited 
from  his  ancestors  the  richest  of  all  legacies — the 
blessing  entailed  from  father  to  son  upon  the 
generations  of  those  who  fear  God.  A  child  of 
the  covenant,  and  sealed  with  the  seal  of  the 
covenant  in  infancy,  his  character  Avas  formed 
and  unfolded  amidst  the  hallowed  influences  of  a 
Christian  home. 

His  collegiate  education  was  commenced  at 
Princeton,  while  the  college,  under  the  Presi- 
dency of  Dr.  Green,  was  visited  with  that  mem- 
orable revival  which  gave  so  many  ministers  to 
the  Church,  and  baptized  them  with  so  large  a 
measure  of  the  Spirit.  The  subject  of  religious 
impressions    from   his   earliest   childhood,   these 


APPENDIX.  203 

were  deepened  by  contact  witli  the  revival  spirit, 
and  especially  by  the  ministrations  of  the  late 
Dr.  Archibald  Alexander.  The  following  inci- 
dent, connected  Avith  this  period  of  his  life,  is 
from  the  pen  of  Dr.  James  W.  Alexander.  "  The 
first  person  with  Avhom  I  ever  talked  freely  con- 
cerning the  infinite  concerns  of  my  soul,  was 
Henry  Y.  D.  Johns,  and  he  has  told  me  that  a 
like  remark  was  true  of  himself.  It  was  in  Nas- 
sau Hall,  then  the  principal  edifice  of  Princeton 
College,  and  in  No.  27  in  the  'second  entry,'  a 
locality  fresh  in  the  memory  of  old  Nassorians. 
We  were  boys  of  sixteen,  though  I  Avas  about 
to  commence  Bachelor  of  Arts.  Such  conver- 
sations begin  one  scarcely  knows  how ;  in  a 
short  time  we  had  unbosomed  ourselves  to  one 
another,  and  entered  upon  a  close  and  tender 
friendship,  which,  I  trust  in  God,  is  never  to 
cease.  During  the  days  in  which  Henry  Avas 
under  the  work  of  the  law,  and  humbly  doubting 
Avhether,  indeed,  he  had  attained  to  justification 
or  not,  he  used  to  Avalk  in  the  groA^e  behind  the 
college,  Avhich,  alas,  Avith  other  forest  shades  of 
my  boyhood,  has  long  since  vanished  away.  As 
he  strayed,  musing,  his  eye  Avas  attracted  by  a 
small  folded  paper  upon  the  ground ;  this  he 
picked  up,  and  afterwards  showed  to  me ;  it  con- 
tained these  Avords  :  '  And  they  that  are  Christ's 
have  crucified  the  fiesh  Avith  the  affections  and 
lusts.'  Gal.  V.  24.  'Trf/  yourself  hy  this:  This 
incident  made  a  deep  impression  on  us  both,  con- 
veying to  our  apprehensions,  at  that  time,  some- 
thing of  the  supernatural.  We  haA^e  talked  it  over 
in  later  years,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that 


204:  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

it  had  a  molding  influence  on  Johns'  experience 
and  life."  Under  these  blessed  influences  the 
seed,  sown  and  watered  through  so  many  years, 
ripened  in  his  heart  into  its  glorious  harvest. 
Here  he  received  that  baptism  of  the  Spirit  Avhich 
made  him  the  evangelist  he  was. 

Partly  from  considerations  of  health,  and  partly 
from  the  disturbed  state  of  the  college  during  the 
last  years  of  Dr.  Green's  administration,  he  re- 
moved from  Princeton,  and  was  graduated  at 
Union,  in  1823.  Immediately  after  his  gradua- 
tion he  commenced  his  studies  for  the  ministry, 
first  with  his  brother,  and  then  at  the  General 
Theological  Seminary,  New  York.  He  was  or- 
dained a  deacon  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  by  the  venerated  Bishop  White,  in  Eman- 
uel Church,  Newcastle,  Delaware,  in  1826,  and  a 
Presbyter  by  Bishop  Chase,  in  St.  John's  Church, 
Washington,  D.  C,  in  1828.  Soon  after,  he  re- 
ceived an  appointment  as  chaplain  in  the  navy, 
and  was  assigned  to  the  vessel  which  was  to  con- 
vey Lafayette  back  from  his  last  visit  to  the 
United  States  to  his  native  land.  After  prayer- 
ful deliberation,  how^ever,  he  was  led  to  devote 
his  life  to  the  pastorate.  And  in  a  little  unfur- 
nished hall,  with  a  rude  pine  table  for  his  pulpit, 
he  gathered  and  organized  his  first  church,  now 
Trinity  Church,  in  Washington.  Thence  he  re- 
mo  vecl  to  Baltimore,  and  ministered,  for  a  time,  to 
old  Trinity,  under  circumstances  of  great  discour- 
agement. Thence  he  removed  to  Frederick,  Md., 
and  thence,  after  the  lapse  of  five  years,  back  to 
Baltimore,  w^here  he  organized  and  served  for  a 
time  St.  Andrew's  Church.     This  church  being 


APPENDIX.  205 

weak  and  struggling  with  many  embarrassments, 
lie  was  induced  to  accept  a  charge  in  Cincinnati, 
where  he  labored  with  great  acceptance  until 
1842,  Avhen  he  was  called  to  Christ  Church,  Bal- 
timore, to  which  he  ministered  until  the  organi- 
zation of  Emanuel,  in  1854,  in  the  service  of 
which  he  died. 

In  asking  me  to  sketch  the  character  of  this 
man  of  God,  so  as  to  give  the  proper  relief  to  its 
more  prominent  features,  you  have  called  me  to 
a  task  to  which  I  feel  myself  inadequate.  My 
personal  relations  to  Dr.  Johns  have  so  endeared 
his  memory,  that  I  can  speak  of  him  only  with 
the  affectionate  partiality  of  a  son  for  a  revered 
father.  My  personal  intercourse  with  him  was 
such,  that  his  faults,  whatever  they  were,  were 
never  discovered.  The  only  portrait  I  can  draw 
of  him,  truthfully,  must  be  all  in  light ;  you  must 
supply  the  shades. 

I.  Intellectually,  he  ma}^  be  best  character- 
ized, perhaps,  by  that  expressive  phrase,  "  a  well 
balanced  mind."  His  mental  faculties,  such  as 
they  were,  were  all  in  a  state  of  happy  equipoise. 
None  were  wanting,  none  Avere  in  excess,  and  all 
were  blended  into  a  structure,  beautiful  and  sym- 
metrical as  a  Grecian  temple.  He  had  not  Genius, 
but  he  had  many  and  varied  Talents.  He  Avas 
not  the  Palm,  gathering  all  its  riches  into  its 
tufted  top,  and  lifting  that  up  to  the  clouds,  and 
out  of  reach;  he  was  the  humbler  Olive  tree, 
covered  all  over  Avith  branches,  laden  with  the 
choicest  fruit,  and  bending  down  to  the  earth. 

He  was,  through  life,  an  indefatigable  student ; 


206  EIGHTY   YEAKS. 

feeding  his  people  with  knowledge  and  not  with 
wind.  It  was  his  habit  to  spend  the  earlier  part 
of  every  week  in  reading,  chiefly  professional ; 
and  the  latter  part  in  arranging  and  elaborating 
his  discourses,  not  writing,  but  manipulating  them 
Avith  his  thoughts  till  they  stood  out  complete  and 
illuminated  in  every  part  before  his  mind's  eye ; 
scrupulously  redeeming  for  this  purpose,  every 
fragment  of  time,  cut  up  as  his  time  always  was, 
into  fragments.  His  style  Avas  singularly  chaste, 
almost  classic.  His  language  was  polished,  until, 
like  the  clearest  crystal,  it  transmitted  without 
tinging  or  refracting  the  light  of  his  thoughts. 
He  had  acquired  the  art,  so  seldom  acquired,  of 
saying  exactly  what  he  wanted  to  say.  He  was 
not  eloquent,  in  the  popular  and  profane  sense  of 
that  word.  He  knew  not,  and  despised  to  know 
how  to  make  the  crowd  gape  and  applaud.  He 
practiced  no  stares  or  starts,  or  mouthings,  or  at- 
titudenizing,  or  stage  tricks,  or  pulpit  imperti- 
nences of  any  kind.  Self-possessed,  simple,  sol- 
emn, he  might  have  served  for  the  original  of 
Cowper's  preacher. 

But  his  chief  power,  and  it  is  the  highest  species 
of  power— far  mightier  than  the  strong  arm,  or 
the  giant  intellect,  or  the  iron  will — was  the 
POWER  OF  GOODNESS.  I  say  it  deliberately,  and 
you,  who  have  known  him  so  long  and  so  well, 
are  all  witnesses,  Dr.  Johns  approached  as  near 
perfection  in  moral  character,  as  is  allowed  to 
mortals.  His  tastes  were  all  elevated,  his  sensi- 
bilities refined,  his  whole  nature  recoiled  with  its 
very  strongest  instincts  from  the  approach  of 
anything  low  or  base.     His  spirit,  gentle  as  that 


APPENDIX.  207 

of  a  child,  loving  as  that  of  a  mother,  Avas  the 
clear  reflection  of  His  "  who  was  meek  and  lowly 
in  heart."  He  was  "  clothed  with  humility,"  as 
with  a  garment,  which  only  heightened  Avhile  it 
sought  to  conceal  his  excellence.  Simple  and  un- 
pretentious, always  ready  to  take  the  lowest 
place,  and  to  esteem  others  better  than  himself ; 
like  the  Master,  he  accounted  it  his  highest  honor 
to  be  "  the  servant  of  alL"  Forgetful  of  himself, 
there  Avas  nothing  about  him  to  repel  the  ap- 
proach of  the  humblest ;  and  "  nothing  Avhich  con- 
cerned man  did  he  regard  as  foreign  to  himself." 
His  sympathies  Avere  quick  and  Avarm,  leading 
him  to  enter  intuitively,  and  with  his  Avhole  heart, 
into  the  feelings  of  others — to  ''  rejoice  with  those 
who  rejoiced  and  to  Aveep  Avith  those  Avho  Avept." 
Whoever  approached  him  in  perplexity  or  in  sor- 
roAv  and  did  not  find  him  a  brother  indeed  ?  O  ! 
how  this  large-heartedness  grappled  his  friends 
to  him  Avith  hooks  of  steel.  The  purity  of  his 
motives  Avas  transparent,  the  sincerity  of  his  pro- 
fessions undoubted.  And  this  goodness  made  it- 
self felt  everywhere  as  a  mighty  power.  There 
Avas  a  majesty  about  it  which  rebuked  from  its 
presence  everything  mean  or  unmanly.  There 
was  an  inspiration  about  it  Avhich  imparted,  at 
least  a  temporary,  elevation,  to  all  Avho  came 
within  its  reach.  There  Avas  a  charm  about  it 
which  extorted  the  homage  even  of  the  Avorldly 
and  the  profane.  How  often  has  the  remark 
been  heard  from  the  lips  of  such,  "  I  like  Dr. 
Johns,  for  I  believe  he  is  a  good  man."  Seldom 
has  the  poa\^er  of  goodness  been  more  signally 
exemplified  in  any  community.     The  gentleness 


208  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

and  purity  which  surrounded  him  as  a  halo,  were, 
however,  far  from  being  associated  with  weak- 
ness or  pusillanimity  of  spirit.  He  was  firm  and 
inflexible,  as  was  shown  more  than  once  in  the 
course  of  his  ministerial  life,  where  the  truth  was 
at  stake.  He  was  always  courageous  for  the 
right — a  very  hero  where  the  glory  of  his  Master, 
the  success  of  his  cause  or  the  liberties  of  his  peo- 
ple were  concernM. 

But  w^e  have  not  yet  reached  "  the  hiding  "  of 
his  power.  His  Goodness  was  sanctified  and  sub- 
limated into  Piety.  His  Virtues  were  transfig- 
ured into  Graces.  He  was  a  temple  of  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  and  the  light  which  shone  about  him  was 
the  light  of  Heaven.  His  piety  Avas  after  the 
earlier,  apostolic  standard — healthful,  genial,  ex- 
pansive, laborious.  He  was  no  enthusiast,  float- 
ing through  dream-lands,  and  feeding  on  visions 
and  ecstasies.  He  had  no  revelations,  save  such 
as  were  common  to  his  brethren.  The  holy  things 
of  his  own  heart  he  delighted  not  to  drag  from 
their  inner  sanctuary,  and  expose  to  the  rude 
gaze,  and  ruder  handling  of  the  multitude.  His 
religious  experiences  were  eminently  sober  and 
scriptural.  His  religion  approved  itself,  as  toward 
God,  in  a  life  of  Consecration. 

"  All  that  I  am  and  all  I  have 
Shall  be  forever  thine." 

These  words  in  his  lips,  were  to  be  taken  in 
their  true  literal  import.  He  was  preeminently 
a  man  of  prayer.  He  saw  Him  who  is  invisible. 
He  walked  with  God.  He  was  often  with  him 
on  the  Mount,  talking  with  him  ''  as  a  man  with 


APPENDIX.  209 

his  friend,"  till  his  face  shone.  Three  times  a 
day,  it  was  his  invariable  custom,  from  his  first 
entrance  on  the  divine  life,  to  retire  for  secret 
prayer.  Every  important  undertaking  was  com- 
menced with  praj^er  ;  and  in  every  perplexity  he 
sought  first  the  wisdom  that  cometh  from  above. 
How  often  w4ien  friends  have  gone  to  consult 
him,  has  he  risen  up  and  locked  his  study  door, 
and  said,  "  Now  that  we  can  be  alone,  let  us  pray." 
As  toward  man  his  religion  approved  itself  by  a 
life  of  benevolence.  He  was  always  ready  to  do 
good.  What  good  cause  ever  failed  to  find  in  him 
a  friend  and  an  advocate  ?  His  time,  his  talents, 
his  influence,  his  money,  all  were  freelj^  employed 
to  promote  the  best  interests  of  society.  Through- 
out his  life  it  was  his  rule  to  devote  the  one-tenth 
of  all  his  income  to  charitable  uses.  And  so 
scrupulous  was  he  in  enforcing  this  rule  upon 
himself,  that  whenever  he  received  a  present, 
even  though  trifling — a  book,  a  wedding-fee,  a 
basket  of  fruit — he  put  a  valuation  upon  it,  and 
gave  the  one-tenth  unto  the  Lord.  For  to  him 
"  to  live  was  Christ." 

n.  The  gospel  he  preached  was  the  gospel  of 
the  apostles  and  the  reformers — the  gospel  of 
the  articles  and  the  homilies.  His  doctrinal 
views  Avere  clearly  and  distinctively  evangelical ; 
sharply  distinguished  on  the  one  side  from  Ea- 
tionalism,  and  on  the  other  from  Romanism.  I 
cannot  better  ex]^ress  them  than  in  his  own  lan- 
guage :  "  Holy  Scripture ;  the  sole  source  and 
rule  of  faith,  not  Scripture  and  tradition  as  its 
joint  rule.  Man — a  fallen  and  depraved  being, 
utterly  unable  by  his  own  strength  to  save  him- 


210  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

self ;  and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  an  all-sufficient 
and  perfect  Saviour.  Repentance — consisting  in 
the  knowledge  of  sin,  sorrow  for  sin,  abandoning 
of  sin,  and  turning  fully  unto  God.  Saving  faith 
— the  repose  of  the  stricken  soul  upon  the  testi- 
mony of  God  concerning  his  Son  Jesus  Christ, 
our  only  Saviour,  Mediator  and  Redeemer.  Par- 
don— the  direct  gift  of  Christ  to  every  one  that 
belie veth  with  the  heart,  with  no  intervention 
other  than  the  truth  and  Spirit  of  God,  not  de- 
pendent on  a  priestly  or  human  agency  for  its 
certainty  of  reception.  Justification — a  free  act 
of  God,  in  consideration  of  the  obedience  and 
death  of  Christ,  received  by  faith  Avithout  Avorks; 
'  not  an  inward  character  in  man,  consisting  of 
faith  as  one  of  a  catalogue  of  justifying  graces.' 
Sanctification — the  progressive  work  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  restoring  the  image  of  God  in  righteous- 
ness and  true  holiness  to  the  soul,  and  thus  in  all 
scriptural  obedience  and  Godly  living,  by  the 
truth,  making  us  new  creatures  in  Christ  Jesus. 
Sanctification,  being  a  work  performed  within  us ; 
Justification,  a  work  performed  without  us.  Jus- 
tification, rendering  us  safe  in  view  of  death  and 
judgment ;  Sanctification  giving  us  evidence  that 
we  are  safe."  Paul  could  have  subscribed  such 
a  creed  as  that,  and  Luther  and  Cranmer,  for  it 
is  the  glorious  gospel  of  the  blessed  God.  And 
in  proclaiming  these  great  cardinal  truths,  he 
uttered  no  "  uncertain  sound,"  his  silvery  voice 
rang  them  out  clearly  and  sharply,  so  that  all 
must  hear  and  none  could  mistake. 

As  a  pastor,  he  chiefly  excelled.     His  great 
usefulness,  and  the  almost  unexampled  love  his 


APPE]^DIX.  211 

people  bore  to  him  were  largely  attributable  to 
his  ministrations  at  the  fireside,  and  in  the  sick 
chamber,  and  the  house  of  mourning  ;  his  ear- 
nest personal  appeals  to  the  careless  and  impeni- 
tent, and  his  affectionate  counsels  to  those  who 
were  asking  after  the  "  way  of  life." 

His  ministry  was  eminently  fruitful.  He  has 
left  to  this  city  three  churches,  free  from  debt, 
and  maintaining  regularly  the  ordinances  of  God's 
house — Emanuel  Church — Emanuel  Chapel,  and 
Cranmer  Chapel.  The  church  he  served,  though 
one  of  the  youngest,  appears  from  the  last  jour- 
nal of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  Mary- 
land, to  be  the  first  in  the  State,  in  the  number 
of  its  communicants,  and  the  general  evidences 
of  pastoral  usefulness.  All  over  this  city  are 
those  who  honor  him,  and  mourn  for  him  as 
their  spiritual  father.  And  in  every  place  Avhere 
he  has  ministered,  many — how  many,  the  judg- 
ment alone  can  declare — have  been  given  him, 
and  will  yet  be  given  him,  as  "  seals  of  his  minis- 
try." 

Dr.  Johns  was  earnestly,  and  honestly,  and 
upon  n[;iature  conviction,  attached  to  the  distinc- 
tive polity  of  his  own  Church,  as,  in  his  view, 
most  closely  conformed  to  the  apostolic  model. 
He  was  in  principle,  what  he  was  by  profession, 
a  Protestant  Episcopalian.  I  make  this  remark 
emphatic,  because  his  hearty  sym])athy  and  coop- 
eration with  evangelical  Christians  of  all  churches, 
have  sometimes  given  rise  to  the  suspicion — a  sus- 
picion which  has  been  even  publicly  expressed — 
that  he  was  not  fully  loyal  to  the  Church  he 


212  EIGHTY  YEARS. 

served.  He  held  that  there  was  nothing  in  his 
relations  as  an  Episcopalian,  inconsistent  with 
his  higher  relations  as  a  Protestant  and  a  Chris- 
tian— nothing  which  compelled  him,  for  a  form 
or  a  rite,  *'  a  baptism  or  a  laying  on  of  hands  " 
to  unchurch  and  hand  over  to  "  uncovenanted 
mercies,"  millions  of  the  living  and  the  dead, 
who  bore  the  seal  of  the  Spirit.  With  the 
founders  and  earlier  and  greater  lights  of  his 
own  church — her  Cranmers,  and  Ushers,  and 
Burnets,  and  Taylors,  and  Leightons,  and  Halls, 
he  held  that  episcopacy  was  not  a  doctrine,  but 
a  fact ;  not  a  divine  command,  but  only  of  apos- 
tolic example — the  best,  but  not  the  only  form ; 
so  that,  while  all  are  bound  to  accept  it,  the. 
want  of  it  does  not  necessarily,  and  of  itself, 
exclude  from  the  covenant.  He  believed  that 
the  visible  Church,  with  its  ministries  and  sacra- 
ments, was  but  a  means  of  grace,  not  that  grace 
itself  ;  an  instrumentality  for  diffusing  the  bless- 
ings of  salvation,  not  that  salvation  itself.  But 
he  did  not  believe  that  the  grace  of  God  was  in- 
separably incorporated  with  the  Church,  nor  that 
his  truth  and  Spirit  were  so  tied  to  the  episcopate 
as  to  be  "  of  none  effect "  without  it.  External 
forms  and  rites,  and  orders  and  successions  in  the 
ministry,  however  necessary  to  the  completeness, 
lie  did  not  regard  as  essential  to  the  being  of  a 
church.  In  his  view  there  was  nothing  incompat- 
ible between  the  ideas  of  a  divinely  appointed 
ministry,  and  a  church  which  embraces  all  who 
believed  the  truth,  and  were  sanctified  by  the 
Spirit  of  God.  Outside  of  the  pale  of  episcopacy 
were  thousands  who  gave  ample  evidence  that 


APPENDIX.  213 

they  were  partakers  of  the  same  grace,  and  heirs 
of  the  same  promises  as  those  within,  and  these 
he  rejoiced  to  acknowledge  as  brethren.  "  Al- 
though,"— I  quote  his  own  words  from  a  letter 
addressed  to  a  Presbyterian  minister — "Al- 
though of  another  branch  of  the  great  family 
of  our  common  Lord,  I  long  to  see  the  cause  of 
true  religion  prosper  everywhere ;  and  while  I 
could  wish  all  you  Presbyterian  brethren  were 
as  I  am,  save  these  bonds  of  sin  which  hang 
around  my  own  poor  heart,  I  am  3^et  content  to 
Avish  you  Godspeed  in  your  own  way  ;  and  to  re- 
joice whenever,  and  wheresoever,  and  by  whom- 
soever Christ  is  preached  and  souls  brought  home 
to  God."  In  the  language  of  one  who  speaks  by 
authority  here,  "  matters  of  ecclesiastical  arrange- 
ment and  government  Avere  esteemed  by  him 
within  the  privilege  of  individual  choice,  and 
were  not  ingrafted  into  the  essentials  of  Chris- 
tianit}^  itself.  He  respected  the  preferences  of 
others,  and  claimed  the  same  for  his  own,  in  the 
matter  of  form  and  order,  but  he  belonged,  by 
the  grace  of  God,  also,  to  that  heaven-destined 
body  which  his  own  Church  defines  as  "  the  Holy 
Catholic  Church,  the  communion  of  saints,  which 
is  the  blessed  company  of  all  faithful  people." 
He  occupied  the  broad  Protestant  platform 
where  we  stand  side  by  side  to-day,  in  perfect 
consistency  with  his  own  principles,  and  in  the 
full  integrity  of  his  heart.  His  professions  of 
fraternal  regard  toward  all,  of  every  name,  who 
bore  the  imprint  of  his  Master's  image  (profes- 
sions so  often  suspected  and  suspicious,  so  often 
but  the  cloak  of  selfish  and  sinister  designs)  Avere 


214  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

the  genuine  and  unaffected  utterances  of  his 
heart.  Everywhere,  in  the  pulpit,  on  the  plat- 
form, in  ecclesiastical  conventions,  he  main- 
tained, consistently,  and  with  unflinching  firm- 
ness, the  broad  principles  of  Christian  frater- 
nity. His  name  belongs  to  no  sect  or  segment 
of  the  household  of  faith,  it  is  the  common  in- 
heritance of  us  all.  The  whole  "company  of 
faithful  people ''  honored  him  living,  and  mourned 
for  him  dead,  as  the  champion  of  Protestant 
unity. 

III.  His  sympathies  overleaping  all  narrow 
denominational  limits,  were  wide  as  the  world — 
wide  as  both  worlds.  How  largely  were  all  our 
benevolent  institutions,  our  House  of  Eefuge,  our 
Asylums,  our  Infirmaries,  indebted  to  his  judi- 
cious counsels,  and  unwearied  labors.  "When 
the  ear  heard  him  then  it  blessed  him,  and  when 
the  eye  saw  him  it  bare  witness  to  him,  because 
he  delivered  the  poor  that  cried,  and  the  father- 
less, and  him  that  had  none  to  help  him ;  the 
blessing  of  him  that  was  ready  to  perish  came 
upon  him,  and  he  caused  the  widow's  heart  to 
sing  for  joy." 

His  heart  was  knit  especially  to  those  great 
twin  institutions  which  unite  all  who  love  the 
Lord  Jesus,  in  direct  efforts  to  save  souls.  When 
he  spoke  of  the  Bible  Society,  or  the  Tract  So- 
ciety, his  countenance  always  glowed,  his  tongue 
was  always  eloquent.  He  loved  them  for  their 
works'  sake.  He  loved  them  as  the  visible  signs 
and  symbols  of  Christian  unity,  the  broad  ban- 
ner of  our  common  Protestantism  flung  to  the 


APPENDIX.  215 

winds,  and  rallying  around  itself  all  the  divisions 
of  the  great  army  of  salvation.  He  was  present 
at  the  organization  of  the  American  Tract  So- 
ciety, in  1825,  a  scene  which  all  Avho  witnessed 
described  as  a  foreshadowing  of  heaven — and  to 
use  his  own  language,  at  its  recent  anniversary, 
"  From  that  day  to  this,  I  have  felt  it  a  privilege 
and  a  duty,  in  the  pulpit  and  upon  the  platform, 
and  upon  every  occasion  in  which  Providence 
afforded  me  an  opportunity,  to  advocate  the 
claims  of  this  Society,  as  one  of  the  great  move- 
ments in  our  Protestant  cause  ;  and  I  have  looked 
upon  it  as  spreading  an  influence  over  the  gen- 
eral literature  of  our  country,  with  which  no 
other  agency  could  begin  to  compare.  Hence,  I 
most  cordially  endorse  the  sentiments  of  Bishop 
Mcllvaine,  that  if  this  Society  were  crippled  in 
any  way  in  its  operations,  it  Avould  be  a  day  of 
darkness  to  our  common  Christianity ;  a  day  of 
rejoicing  to  infidelity  and  Komanism,  from  one 
end  of  the  land  to  the  other."  He  believed  with 
Dr.  Archibald  Alexander,  when  he  said,  "  I  doubt 
whether  there  is  in  the  world  at  this  time,  an  in- 
stitution, the  Christian  ministry  excepted,  more 
efficiently  employed  in  conveying  the  gospel  to 
all  classes  of  society."  Next  to  the  ministry, 
both  these  sainted  men  regarded  the  Tract  So- 
ciety as  the  great  instrumentality  for  evangeliz- 
ing the  world. 

At  the  time  of  his  death.  Dr.  Johns  was  the 
president  of  the  Maryland  Tract  Society.  "  Dr. 
Johns,"  I  quote  the  language  of  its  secretary  in 
announcing  officially  his  death,  "  has  presided 
over  this  Society  during  the  whole  of  its  exist- 


216  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

ence.  It  is  now  about  fifteen  years  since  the 
friends  of  this  branch  of  Christian  effort  judged 
best  to  reorganize  the  Baltimore  Tract  Society, 
one  of  the  oldest  associations  of  the  kind  in  the 
country,  to  enlarge  the  sphere  of  its  action ;  and 
assume  the  name  it  now  bears.  On  that  occasion 
it  was  msftie  my  duty  to  call  on  Dr.  Johns,  and 
ascertain  if  he  was  Avilling  to  become  our  presi- 
dent. His  reply  was  characteristic,  ^I  Avould 
advise  you  to  get  a  man  better  suited  for  the 
place,  but  if  my  services  are  desired,  they  shall 
be  cheerfully  rendered.'  You  will  all  bear  wit- 
ness how  fully  he  has  redeemed  this  pledge. 
From  that  day  to  this  day  of  mourning,  it  has 
been  both  my  duty  and  my  happiness,  often  to 
call  and  confer  with  him  as  to  what  was  wise  and 
best  to  do.  I  have  never  found  him  so  busy,  or 
so  fatigued,  that  he  was  not  ready  to  listen  to  my 
statements.  Nor  was  it  a  mere  passing  consider- 
ation that  he  gave  to  these  interests ;  but  an 
earnestness  of  thought,  such  as  men  are  wont  to 
bestow  on  their  personal  concerns.  I  have  never 
conversed  with  a  man  who  had  a  higher  appreci- 
ation of  this  department  of  Christian  benevo- 
lence." His  services,  in  organizing  and  presid- 
ing so  long  and  so  efficiently  over  the  Maryland 
Tract  Society,  were  invaluable ;  and  his  name 
will  always  be  preserved  among  her  most  pre- 
cious household  treasures. 

ly.  And  now  we  come  to  the  last  sad  scene 
of  all.  His  work  here  was  done,  and  the  Master 
had  need  of  him  for  a  more  glorious  service 
above.  While  he  yet  went  in  and  out  among  us, 
we  saw  the  handwriting  of  death  upon  him.     A 


APPENDIX.  217 

concealed  malady  was  slowly  drying  up  the  foun- 
tains of  life,  and  embalming  his  body  for  its 
burial.  His  soul  was  mellowing  and  ripening  for 
heaven,  and  bathing  itself  continually  in  the 
light  of  God's  countenance.  Ere  yet  he  ap- 
proached the  dark  border  river,  or  |^elt  its  first 
ripples  upon  his  feet,  he  was  admitted — as  is 
sometimes  granted  to  pilgrims — to  "  the  Land  of 
Beulah,"  that  heaven  this  side  of  death,  and 
close  upon  its  borders,  where  the  birds  always 
sing,  and  the  flowers  always  bloom,*and  the  sun 
shineth  night  and  day,  and  the  shining  ones  come 
forth  and  walk — he  stood  upon  the  Delectable 
Mountains,  whence  he  could  see  the  open  gates  of 
the  Celestial  City ;  and  so  strengthened  and 
cheered  by  these  glimpses  and  foretastes  of  the 
Better  Land  beyond,  he  was  enabled  to  go  for- 
ward, singing  that  blessed  Psalm  of  faith : 
"  Yea,  though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death,  I  Avill  fear  no  evil :  for  thou  art 
with  me;  thy  rod  and  thy  staff  they  comfort 
me." 

His  last  sickness,  he  knew  from  the  first,  Avas 
the  Messenger  of  Jesus  to  call  him  home.  His 
sufferings  were  intense  and  protracted,  till  his 
poor  body  was  weary  with  its  groanings,  and  its 
tossings  to  and  fro ;  but  his  soul  was  kept  in  per- 
fect peace  ;  for  God  was  the  strength  of  his  heart, 
and  his  portion.  Come  let  us  gather  around  his 
deathbed  and  see  how  a  Christian  dies.  He  is 
looking  back  over  his  past  "life,  and  thinking  of 
tliat  world  he  must  so  soon  leave,  but  there  are  no 
regrets ;  for  his  language  is  "  I  am  now  ready  to 
be  offered,  and  the  time  of  my  departure  is  at 


218  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

hand.  I  have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have  finished 
my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith :  henceforth 
there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness." 
His  weeping  family  are  around  him ;  the  mem- 
ories of  dear  absent  friends  come  crowding  fast 
upon  him  ^  but  he  shrinks  not  from  the  stroke 
which  must  sunder  so  many  tender  ties  at  once ; 
for  he  knows  his  Heavenly  Father  will  take  care 
of  the  bleeding  hearts  he  leaves  behind,  and  all 
will  soon  be.  reunited,  never,  never  to  part  again. 
He  sees  death,  the  last  dread  enemy,  approach- 
ing nearer  and  nearer ;  but  even  as  he  looks,  the 
monster  is  suddenly  transformed  into  a  Messen- 
ger of  Mercy,  his  crown  of  terrors  falls  off,  his 
dart  is  broken,  his  sting  withdrawn,  and  the 
dying  saint  sings,  "  O  !  death,  where  is  thy  sting  ? 
O  !  grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ?  Thanks  be 
to  God,  which  giveth  us  the  victory  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ."  He  looks  down  into  the 
grave  just  opening  at  his  feet,  but  it  is  no  longer 
a  cold,  or  dark,  or  silent,  or  lonely  place.  It  is 
a  hallowed  spot — Jesus  lay  there.  His  father 
lies  there,  his  mother,  the  dear  friends  of  other 
days.  Patriarchs,  Prophets,  Apostles,  all  the 
sainted  dead,  and  he  is  ready  to  lie  down  and 
sleep  by  their  side.  He  looks  upward ;  and  his 
countenance  becomes  radiant,  his  filmy  e3^e 
sparkles  with  more  than  its  old  luster,  the  an- 
ticipated radiance  of  heaven  surrounds  him  as  a 
glory  ;  for  he  sees  his  Saviour  beckoning  him 
away ;  and  with  glad  voice  he  answers — they 
Avere  among  his  last  words — *'  Yes,  Jesus,  I 
come  !  I  come  to  thee  !  "  It  would  seem,  as  if 
like  the  dying  Stephen,  he  saw  heaven  opened, 


APPENDIX.  219 

and  the  Son  of  man  standing  at  the  right  hand 
of  God,  calling  and  beckoning  him  away. 

On  his  deathbed  he  left  these  three  legacies. 
The  first  is  for  that  people  he  loved  and  served 
so  well  in  the  gospel.  Said  he  to  those  Avho 
stood  around  him:  "I  cannot  express  the 
pleasure  it  has  been  to  me  to  serve  this 
people;  they  have  been  so  kind,  so  consid- 
erate." The  second  is  for  us  all.  It  was  in  his 
last  night  on  earth.  His  sufferings  were  intense, 
and  he  had  thrown  himself  across  the  bed,  Avith 
his  face  downward.  His  brother.  Bishop  Johns, 
was  by  his  side,  holding  his  hands ;  while  a  be- 
loved son  pillowed  his  head.  The  window^s  were 
thrown  open  to  the  night  to  give  him  air.  Con- 
trolling his  sufferings  for  a  moment,  by  a  strong 
mental  effort,  he  looked  up,  and  said  in  a  clear 
calm  voice  to  his  brother,  "Brother  !  it  is  all 

AS  CLEAR  AS  A  SUNBEAM,  AND  SO  COMFORTING." 

Eacked  with  pain ;  his  faced  bowed  to  the  earth  ; 
amidst  the  darkness  of  midnight ;  his  only  com- 
fort the  cold  night  winds  that  swept  over  him ; 
it  was  noonday  in  his  soul,  for  heaven's  own 
sunbeams  filled  and  flooded  its  chambers.  The 
third,  too,  is  for  us  all.  A  few  hours  before  his 
death,  he  said  to  those  who  watched  around  him : 
"  Before  my  mind  leaves  me,  I  wish  to  say 

THREE  THINGS.  I  COMMIT  MY  FAMILY  TO  THE 
CARE  OF  MY  HEAVENLY  FATHER — KNOWING 
THAT  HE  WILL  DO  FAR  MORE  THAN  I  HAVE 
EVER  BEEN  ABLE  TO  DO  FOR  THEIR  PROTEC- 
TION ;  THAT  I  LEAVE  MY  ChURCH  TO  THE 
GUARDIAN  CARE  OF  ALMIGHTY  GOD ;  AND 
THAT  YOU  MUST  TELL  MY  FRIENDS,  I  AM  A  SIN- 


220  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

NER  SAVED  BY  GRACE,  AND  THAT  GOD  MY  SAV- 
IOUR   HAS    NOT   FORSAKEN   HIS   POOR   SERVANT 

IN  HIS  DYING  HOUR."     And  SO  he  fell  asleep, 
calmly,  peacefully,  as  an  infant  sinks  to  slumber. 

"  He  died,  as  sets  the  Morning  Star,  which  goes 
Not  down  behind  the  darkened  west;  nor  hides 
Obscured  among  the  tempests  of  the  sky, 
But  mehs  away  into  the  light  of  heaven." 

And  then,  devout  men  came  and  carried  him 
to  his  burial.  That  funeral,  who  that  witnessed, 
can  ever  forget  it  ?  It  seemed  as  if  this  whole 
city  were  draped  as  a  funeral  mansion,  and  every 
inhabitant  came  forth  as  a  mourner.  That  densely 
crowded  church ;  its  deathlike  stillness,  broken 
only  by  the  stifled  sobs  that  could  not  be  sup- 
pressed— the  multitudes  who  thronged  ail  the 
surrounding  streets — the  long  procession — the 
crowded  cemetery — the  tears  w^hich  consecrated 
the  last  resting  place  of  one  so  loved.  Hallowed 
spot!  The  footsteps  of  undying  affection  will 
often  revisit  it.  Our  hearts  will  often  make  their 
pilgrimages  there.  Softly  may  the  sunlight  sleep 
upon  it ;  and  fresh  and  green  be  the  turf  that 
covers  it. 

Something  more  we  had  intended  to  say  to 
commend  the  lessons  of  such  a  life  and  such  a 
death,  particularly  to  the  members  of  that  church 
he  loved  so  well ;  to  the  officers  and  members  of 
the  Tract  Society,  which  he  served  so  long  and 
so  faithfully ;  and  to  those  who  were  associated 
with  him  in  the  ministry  of  the  everlasting  gos- 
pel. But  we  must  leave  them — and  best  so,  per- 
haps, to  speak  for  themselves. 


APPENDIX.  221 

And  now,  farewell !  Brother,  farewell !  With 
trembling  hands  we  have  Avoven  this  garland 
for  thy  grave — would  it  Avere  worthier.  We 
bless  God  that  we  were  permitted  to  know  thee. 
We  bless  God  that  we  were  worthy  to  love  thee. 
Yery  pleasant  hast  thou  been  unto  us,  my  brother ! 
And  now  that  thou  art  gone  from  us  Ave  Avill 
cherish  all  that  thou  hast  left  to  earth.  We  Avill 
Avatch  over  thy  grave.  We  Avill  keep  thy  mem- 
ory fresh  and  fragrant  in  our  midst.  We  Avill 
embalm  thy  name  in  our  heart  of  hearts.  We 
Avill  try  to  follow  thee,  brother !  even  as  thou 
didst  follow  Christ.  Just  translated  from  among 
us ;  even  yet  Ave  are  standing  and  gazing  after 
the  chariots  of  fire  Avhich  conveyed  thee  aAvay. 
O  !  that  thy  mantle  may  fall  upon  us ! 

Why  linger  any  longer  about  his  graA^e.  "  He 
is  not  here,  he  is  risen." 

«<  Hark  !  the  golden  liarps  are  ringing, 
Sounds  unearthly  greet  his  ear  : 
Millions  now  in  heaven  singing, 
Greet  his  joyful  entrance  there." 

He  Avas  Avise  to  Avin  souls  unto  Christ,  and  he 
shines  to-day  as  the  brightness  of  the  upper 
firmament !  "  He  turned  many  to  righteous- 
ness," and  he  will  shine  "  as  the  stars  forever  and 
ever."  The  croAvn  he  Avears  to-day  is  all  spark- 
ling— gemmed  Avith  immortal  brilliants — the 
souls  he  Avon  to  Jesus.  The  mansion  he  inhabits 
to-day  is  very  near  to  the  throne  ;  many  Avere 
Avaiting  to  meet  and  rejoice  Avith  him  there,  and 
many  more  Avill  yet  go  up  to  join  them,  and  a 
great   multitude  Avill   gather   around   him   over 


222  EIGHTY   YEAKS. 

Avhom  he  will  rejoice  forever  as  "  his  crown  and 
his  joy,"  and  "  his  works  will  still  follow  him." 
''  Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous  and  let 
my  last  end  be  like  his." 

A  word  I  must  say  in  parting,  to  the  officers 
and  members  of  the  Maryland  Tract  Society. 
A  dear  personal  friend,  a  brother  beloved — an 
honored  president,  "  our  stay  and  our  staff,"  has 
been  taken  from  us  in  the  noon  of  manhood,  and 
in  the  very  midst  of  his  usefulness.  We  shall  see 
his  face  no  more — never  again  meet  him  in  the 
committee  room.  But  a  voice  comes  from  his 
grave  to  us  saying :  "  Be  ye  also  ready,  for  in 
such  an  hour  as  ye  think  not  the  Son  of  man 
Cometh.  Work  while  it  is  day,  for  the  night 
Cometh  when  no  man  can  work."  O !  how 
rapidly  that  night  is  hastening  on,  and  how  soon 
it  will  close  around  us.  How  many  of  those  who 
started  out  on  life's  journey  with  us — the  friends 
and  companions  of  other  days — have  fallen  at 
our  side,  and  are  sleeping  to-day  in  some  quiet 
country  churchyard,  or  in  our  own  crowded 
cemeteries.  Already  we  begin  to  feel  ourselves 
"  strangers  in  the  earth."  And  what  we  have  to 
do  for  our  own  souls,  for  the  souls  of  others,  for 
that  precious  Saviour  Avho  redeemed  us  with  his 
own  blood,  must  be  done  quickly. 

Here,  in  this  solemn  hour,  and  as  over  the  re- 
mains of  our  dear  departed  friend  and  brother, 
let  us  consecrate  ourselves  afresh  to  that  great 
cause  whose  precious  interests  are  intrusted  to 
our  guardianship.  We  bless  God,  that  here, 
though  bearing  many  a  name  other  than  that 


APPENDIX.  223 

new  name  we  shall  all  be  knoAvn  by  in  heaven, 
we  see  eye  to  eye,  and  are  joined  hand  to  hand, 
"  laborers  together  "  in  building  up  our  Master's 
Kingdom.  Let  us  ever  cherish  that  spirit  of 
brotherly  kindness,  Avhich  so  eminenfly  char- 
acterized our  lamented  president,  and  which 
glows  in  our  hearts  to-day.  Let  us  not  be  weary 
in  welldoing.  Let  us  scatter  abroad  still  more 
widely  the  leaves  of  the  tree  of  life,  the  printed 
words  of  God,  till  they  bring  healing  to  all  the 
dwellings  of  our  city  and  state.  And  when  the 
Chief  Shepherd  shall  appear,  we  too  "  shall  re- 
ceive from  him  a  Crown  of  Life." 


ADDRESS 

ON  THE  ACTS  AND  DELIVERANCES  OF  THE 

GENERAL  ASSEMBLY  OF  THE  OLD  SCHOOL 

PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  DURING  THE 

PAST  FIVE  YEARS,  ON  THE  STATE 

OF  THE  COUNTRY, 

BY 

EEY.  JOSEPH  T.  SMITH,  D.  D. 

[Delivered  hy  request^  in  the  Central  Presbyterian 
Churchy  Baltiino7'e^  on  Thursday  Evening^ 
June  '21,  1866.'] 

It  is  with  great  hesitation  and  reluctance  I 
enter  upon  the  duty  here  assigned  nie.  My  taste 
and  temperament  and  habits  and  uniform  course 
of  conduct  with  reference  to  the  questions  before 
us,  seemed  to  disqualify  me,  above  all  others,  for 
such  a  service  as  this.  Brethren  and  friends, 
however,  to  Avhose  better  judgment  I  have 
yielded  my  own,  have  thought  that  I  might  be 
able  to  remove  some  misapprehensions,  relieve 
some  minds  of  painful  perplexities,  and  shed  some 
light  upon  the  path  of  duty,  in  which  we  all  de- 
sire to  walk ;  and  with  the  hope,  however  faint, 
of  accomplishing  such  a  result  as  this,  for  the 
good  of  our  Zion  and  the  glory  of  our  common 
Master,  I  dared  not  refuse  the  service. 

It  is  a  sad  thing,  my  brethren,  that  we  are  here 

224 


APPENDIX.  225 

at  all  on  such  an  occasion  as  this.  The  storm  of 
war,  which  has  swept  so  wildly  over  us,  is  now 
past.  The  sword  is  sheathed,  the  confused  noise 
of  the  warrior  no  longer  heard,  soldiers  trans- 
formed into  citizens  have  everywhere  returned 
to  the  pursuits  of  peaceful  industry  again,  and 
the  blessed  Sun  of  Peace,  breaking  through  the 
dun  clouds  which  so  long  obscured  it,  again 
shines  brightly  upon  us.  During  all  these  ter- 
rible years  of  passion  and  strife  we  watched  and 
wept  and  prayed,  Oh!  how  earnestly,  for  the 
peace  of  Jerusalem,  Prizing  her  above  our  chief 
joy,  it  ^vas  our  heart's  first  desire  that  she  might 
be  preserved  amidst  the  perils  which  tlireatened 
her.  While  all  along  the  border,  where  the 
tempest  broke  in  its  utmost  fury,  churches  were 
rent,  pastors  sundered  from  congregations,  and 
congregations  torn  and  scattered,  God  in  his 
boundless  mercy  preserved  us ;  and  when  the 
storm  was  overpast,  our  holy  and  our  beautiful 
house  still  stood  entire,  and  we,  who  had  so  long 
taken  sweet  counsel  together,  were  still  seen  going 
up  to  the  House  of  God  in  company,  and  sitting 
together  around  the  table  of  our  common  Lord. 
It  was  a  beautiful  spectacle  ;  and  as  we  rejoiced, 
we  gave  God  all  the  glory.  We  felt  as  we 
looked  upon  it,  that  Christ's  kingdom  was  indeed 
not  of  this  world,  that  his  people,  whatever  dif- 
ferences might  obtain  among  them  as  citizens  of 
an  earthly  kingdom,  as  citizens  of  the  heavenly 
kingdom  Avere  all  one — all  one  in  Christ, 

And  now  that  all  is  over — that  the  questions 
which  threatened  us  are  by  universal  consent 
settled — it  cannot  be  that  Peace  shall  bring  upon 


226  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

US  all  the  calamities  of  War.  This  blessed  clove, 
Avith  the  green  olive  branch  in  its  mouth,  which 
is  hovering  around  the  open  window  of  our 
storm-tossed  ark,  our  own  hands  cannot  surely 
thrust  it  away ; — not  now,  when  so  great  a  work 
awaits  us, — Avhen  so  many  desolations  are  to  be 
repaired — when  the  w^ounds  left  upon  our  own 
spirits  are  to  be  healed — when  the  cause  of 
Christ  in  this  great  city  demands  our  utmost  care 
— when  prophetic  events  so  long  foretold  and 
anticipated,  are  palpably  moving  on  to  their 
great  accomplishment.  I  have  no  harsh  word  to 
speak,  not  one  to  awaken  passion  or  inflame  ex- 
citement. I  would  speak  the  truth,  in  love, 
calmly  and  soberly.  Let  me  ask  your  prayers, 
my  brethren,  that  I  may  be  suffered  to  give  no 
wrong  touch  to  the  Ark  of  God,  and  that  with 
hearts  purified  from  all  passion,  and  minds 
emptied  of  all  prejudice,  Ave  may  rejoice  together 
in  the  fulfillment  of  the  promise,  "  To  the  up- 
right in  heart,  there  arises  Light  out  of  Darkness." 

The  Subject  which  now  claims  our  attention  is. 
What  is  the  duty  of  those  among  us,  Avho  may 
disapprove  of  any,  or  of  all  the  Acts  and  Deliver- 
ances of  the  General  Assembly  of  our  Church, 
during  these  troublous  years  past.  The  single 
question  upon  which  it  is  held  the  Assembly  has 
erred,  is  that  of  the  relation  between  Church  and 
State, — the  spiritual  and  the  temporal  powers, — 
existing  as  they  do  side  by  side,  touching  each 
other  at  so  many  points,  traversing  each  other's 
territories  in  so  many  directions,  and  often  so 
difficult  to  be  discriminated. 


APPENDIX.  227 

The  Assembly,  it  is  charged,  has  over  and  over 
again  left  its  appropriate  sphere,  intruded  upon 
that  of  the  State,  and  intermeddled  with  civil  af- 
fairs, which,  by  the  Word  of  God  and  the  standards 
of  the  Church,  it  is  forbidden  to  handle.  Christ's 
kingdom  is  not  of  this  world.  "  Synods  and 
Councils,"  says  our  Confession  of  Faith,  "  are  to 
handle  or  conclude  nothing  but  that  Avhich  is 
ecclesiastical,  and  are  not  to  intermeddle  with 
civil  affairs  Avhich  concern  the  commonwealth, 
unless  by  way  of  humble  petition  in  cases  extra- 
ordinary ;  or  by  way  of  advice  for  satisfaction  of 
conscience,  if  they  he  thereunto  required  by  the 
civil  magistrate." — Coiifession  of  Faith,  chajp, 
31,  sec.  4. 

Such  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  it  is  one  dear  to  us,  for  it  is  one  peculiarly 
our  own.  It  is  the  doctrine  of  our  common  Pres- 
byterianism,  and  as  a  Doctrine  no  Assembly,  or 
Synod,  or  Presbytery,  or  Minister,  or  Member  of 
our  Church,  has  ever  called  it  in  question.  It  be- 
longs to  no  sect  or  segment  of  our  communion,  it 
is  the  common  inheritance  of  us  all.  You  would 
as  soon  expect  to  hear  an  American  Presbyterian 
deny  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  or  his  Atonement, 
as  the  doctrine  here  set  forth.  I  have  never 
preached  politics,  and  I  never  will.  As  a  Minis- 
ter I  have  never  intermeddled  with  civil  affairs, 
which  belong  to  the  commonwealth,  and  I  never 
will ;  and  in  this,  my  brethren,  I  am  sure,  all  are 
agreed  with  me. 

And  now  the  question  recurs  in  what  respects, 
and  how  far  has  the  Assembly  done  violence  to 
this  doctrine.     We  begin  with  the  Act  of  1861, 


228  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

as  first  in  order,  familiar  to  3^ou  all  as  "  the  Spring 
Resolutions,"  which  we  quote  in  full : 

"  Gratefully  acknowledging  the  distinguished 
bounty  and  care  of  Almighty  God  toward  this 
favored  land,  and  also  recognizing  our  obliga- 
tions to  submit  to  every  ordinance  of  man  for  the 
Lord's  sake,  this  General  Assembly  adopt  the  fol- 
lowing resolutions : 

'''-Resolved^  1.  That  in  view  of  the  present 
agitated  and  unhappy  condition  of  this  country, 
the  first  day  of  July  next  be  hereby  set  apart  as 
a  day  of  prayer  throughout  our  bounds ;  and  that 
on  this  day  ministers  and  people  are  called  on 
humbly  to  confess  and  bewail  our  national  sins, 
to  offer  our  thanks  to  the  Father  of  light  for  his 
abundant  and  undeserved  goodness  toward  us  as 
a  nation ;  to  seek  his  guidance  and  blessing  upon 
our  rulers,  and  their  counsels,  as  Avell  as  on  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  about  to  assemble; 
and  to  implore  him,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ, 
the  great  High  Priest  of  the  Christian  profession, 
to  turn  away  his  anger  from  us,  and  speedily  re- 
store to  us  the  blessings  of  an  honorable  peace. 

"  Resolved^  2.  That  this  General  Assembly,  in 
the  spirit  of  that  Christian  patriotism  which  the 
sacred  Scripture  enjoins,  and  which  has  always 
characterized  this  Church,  do  hereby  acknowl- 
edge and  declare  our  obligation  to  affirm  and  per- 
petuate, so  far  as  in  us  lies,  the  integrity  of  these 
United  States,  and  to  strengthen,  uphold  and  en- 
courage the  Federal  Government  in  the  exercise 
of  all  its  functions  under  our  Constitution ;  and 
to  this  Constitution  in  all  its  provisions,  require- 
ments and  objects,  we  profess  our  unabated  loy- 


APPENDIX.  229 

alty.  And  to  avoid  all  misconceptions,  the  As- 
sembly declare,  that  by  the  terms  Federal  Gov- 
ernment, is  not  meant  any  particular  administra- 
tion or  the  peculiar  opinions  of  any  particular 
party,  but  that  central  administration,  which 
being  at  any  time  appointed  and  inaugurated  ac- 
cording to  the  forms  prescribed  in  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States,  is  the  visible  represent- 
ative of  our  national  existence." — Minutes  of  the 
General  Assembly^  page  329. 

Against  this  action,  the  commissioners  from 
this  Presljytery  voted,  and  with  fifty-six  others 
protested.  I  will  read  from  the  protest  and  the 
answer  of  the  Assembly,  such  extracts  as  will 
bring  out  clearly  the  points  in  controversy. 

Protest  of  Dr.  Ilodge  and  others. 

"We,  the  undersigned,  respectfully  protest 
against  the  action  of  the  General  Assembly,  in 
adopting  the  minority  report  of  the  Committee 
on  the  State  of  the  Country. 

"  We  make  this  protest,  not  because  we  do  not 
acknowledge  loyalty  to  our  country  to  be  a  moral 
and  religious  duty,  according  to  the  Word  of 
God,  Avhich  requires  us  to  be  subject  to  the  pow- 
ers that  be  ;  nor  because  we  deny  the  right  of  the 
Assembly  to  enjoin  that,  and  all^other  like  duties, 
on  the  ministers  and  churches  under  its  care ;  but 
because  we  deny  the  right  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly to  decide  the  political  question,  to  what  gov- 
ernment the  allegiance  ^f  Presbyterians  as  citi- 
zens is  due,  and  its  right  to  make  that  decision  a 
condition  of  membership  in  our  Church. 


230  EIGHTY   YEAKS. 

"  That  the  paper  adopted  by  the  Assembly  does 
decide  the  political  question  just  stated,  is  in  our 
judgment  undeniable.  It  asserts  not  only  the 
loyalty  of  this  body  to  the  Constitution  and  the 
Union,  but  it  promises  in  the  name  of  all  the 
churches  and  ministers  whom  it  represents,  to  do 
all  that  in  them  lies  to  "  strengthen,  uphold,  and 
encourage  the  Federal  Government."  It  is,  how- 
ever, a  notorious  fact,  that  many  of  our  ministers 
and  members  conscientiously  believe  that  the  al- 
legiance of  the  citizens  of  this  country  is  primarily 
due  to  the  States  to  which  they  respectively  be- 
long ;  and,  therefore,  that  when  any  State  re- 
nounces its  connection  with  the  United  States, 
and  its  allegiance  to  the  Constitution,  the  citizens 
of  that  State  are  bound  by  the  laws  of  God  to 
continue  loyal  to  their  State,  and  obedient  to  its 
laws.  The  paper  adopted  by  the  Assembly  vir- 
tually declares,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  al- 
legiance of  the  citizen  is  due  to  the  United  States ; 
anything  in  the  Constitution,  or  ordinances,  or 
laws  of  the  several  States  to  the  contrary  not- 
withstanding. 

"  It  is  not  the  loyalty  of  the  members  consti- 
tuting this  Assembly,  nor  of  our  churches  and 
ministers  in  any  one  portion  of  our  country  that 
is  thus  asserted,  but  the  loyalty  of  the  whole 
Presbyterian  Church,  North  and  South,  East  and 
West. 

"  Allegiance  to  the  Federal  Government  is  rec- 
ognized or  declared  to  be  the  duty  of  all  the 
churches  and  minister^ represented  in  this  body. 
In  adopting  this  paper,  therefore,  the  Assembly 
does  decide  the  great  political  question  which 


APPENDIX.  231 

agitates  and  divides  the  countr}^.  The  question 
is,  whether  the  allegiance  of  our  citizens  is  pri- 
marily to  the  State  or  to  the  Union.  However 
clear  our  own  convictions  of  the  correctness  of 
this  decision  may  be,  or  however  deeply  we  may 
be  impressed  with  its  importance,  yet  it  is  not  a 
question  which  this  Assembly  has  the  right  to 
decide. 

"  That  the  action  of  the  Assembly  in  the  prem- 
ises does  not  only  decide  the  political  question 
referred  to,  but  makes  that  decision  a  term  of 
membership  in  our  Church,  is  no  less  clear.  It 
is  not  analogous  to  the  recommendation  of  a  re- 
ligious or  benevolent  institution,  which  our  mem- 
bers may  regard  or  not  at  pleasure ;  but  it  puts 
into  the  mouths  of  all  represented  in  this  body, 
a  declaration  of  loyalty  and  allegiance  to  the 
Union  and  to  the  Federal  Government.  But 
such  a  declaration,  made  by  our  members  residing 
in  what  is  called  the  seceding  States  is  treason- 
able. Presbyterians  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
those  States,  cannot,  therefore,  make  that  declar- 
ation. They  are  consequently  forced  to  choose 
between  allegiance  to  their  States  and  allegiance 
to  the  Church. 

''The  General  Assembly  in  thus  deciding  a 
political  question,  and  in  making  that  decision 
practically  a  condition  of  membership  in  the 
Church,  has,  in  our  judgment,  violated  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  Church,  and  usurped  the  prerog- 
ative of  its  Divine  Master. 

"  We  protest  loudly  against  the  action  of  the 
Assembly,  because  it  is  a  departure  from  all  its 
previous  actions. 


232  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

"  The  General  Assembly  has  always  acted  on 
the  principle  that  the  Church  has  no  right  to 
make  anything  a  condition  of  Christian  or  minis- 
terial fellowship,  which  is  not  enjoined  or  re- 
quired in  the  Scriptures  and  the  standards  of 
the  Church." — Minutes  of  the  General  Assemlly, 
pages  339  and  340. 

In  the  Assembly's  answer  to  this  protest,  they 
say: 

"The  first  and  main  ground  of  protest  against 
the  adoption  of  this  resolution,  is,  that  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  has  no  right  to  decide  purely 
political  questions;  that  the  question  whether 
the  allegiance  of  American  citizens  is  due  pri- 
marily and  eminently  to  the  State,  or  to  the 
Union,  is  purely  political,  of  the  gravest  charac- 
ter, dependent  upon  constitutional  theories  and 
interpretations,  respecting  which,  various  opin- 
ions prevail  in  different  sections  of  our  country  ; 
that  the  action  of  the  Assembly  virtually  deter- 
mines this  vexed  question,  decides  to  what  gov- 
ernment the  allegiance  of  Presbyterians,  as  citi- 
zens, is  due,  and  makes  that  decision  a  term  of 
communion. 

"  The  protestants  '  deny  the  right  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  to  decide  to  what  government  the 
allegiance  of  Presbyterians,  as  citizens,  is  due.' 
Strictly  speaking,  the  Assembly  has  made  no 
such  decision.  They  have  said  nothing  respect- 
ing the  allegiance  of  the  subjects  of  any  foreign 
power,  or  that  of  the  members  of  our  mission 
Churches  in  India,  China,  or  elsewhere,  who 
may  hold  connection  with  our  denomination. 
The    action    complained    of    relates    solely    to 


APPENDIX.  233 

American  Presbyterians,  citizens  of  these  United 
States. 

"  Even  with  regard  to  them,  the  Assembly  has 
not  determined,  as  between  conflicting  govern- 
ments, to  which  our  allegiance  is  due.  We  ar.e  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  United  States  of  America.  Such  is  the 
distinctive  name,  ecclesiastical  and  legal,  under 
which  we  have  chosen  to  be  known  by  our  sister 
Churches  and  by  the  world.  Our  organization 
as  a  General  Assembly  was  cotemporaneous  with 
that  of  our  Federal  Government.  In  the  seventy- 
four  years  of  our  existence,  Presbj^terians  have 
known  but  one  supreme  government,  one  nation- 
ality, within  our  widespread  territory.  We  know 
no  other  now.  History  tells  of  none.  The  Fed- 
eral Government  acknowledges  none.  IS^o  nation 
on  earth  recognizes  the  existence  of  two  inde- 
pendent sovereignties  within  these  United  States. 
What  Divine  Providence  may  intend  for  us  here- 
after— what  curse  of  rival  and  hostile  sovereign- 
ties within  this  broad  heritage  of  onr  fathers, — 
Ave  presume  not  to  determine.  Do  these  protes- 
tants,  who  so  anxiously  avoid  political  entangle- 
ments, desire  the  General  Assembly  to  anticipate 
the  dread  decision  of  impending  battle,  the  action 
of  our  own  government,  the  determination  of 
foreign  powers,  and  even  the  ultimate  arbitration 
of  heaven  ?  Would  they  have  us  recognize,  as 
good  Presbyterians,  men  whom  our  own  govern- 
ment, with  the  approval  of  Christendom,  may 
soon  execute  as  traitors  ?  May  not  the  highest 
Court  of  our  Church,  speaking  as  the  interpreter 
of  that  holy  law  which  says,  '  Ye  must  needs  be 


234  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

subject,  not  only  for  wrath,  but  also  for  con- 
science sake,'  Rom.  xiii.  5,  warn  her  communi- 
cants against  '  resisting  the  ordinance  of  God '  ? 
Rom.  xiii.  2.  In  the  language  of  the  learned 
Reviewer  above  cited,  *  Is  disunion  morally  right  ? 
Does  it  not  involve  a  breach  of  faith,  and  a  vio- 
lation of  the  oaths  by  which  that  faith  was  con- 
firmed? We  believe,  under  existing  circum- 
stances, that  it  does,  and  therefore  it  is  as  dread- 
ful a  blow  to  the  Church  as  it  is  to  the  State.  If 
a  crime  at  all,  it  is  one,  the  heinousness  of  which 
can  only  be  imperfectly  estimated.' 

"In  the  judgment  of  this  Assembly,  'this  say- 
ing is  true' ;  and  therefore  the  admission,  on  the 
part  of  the  Assembly,  that  Presbyterians  may 
take  up  arms  against  the  Federal  Government, 
or  aid  and  comfort  its  enemies,  and  yet  be  guilt- 
less, would  exhibit  that  '  practical  recognition  of 
the  right  of  secession,'  Avhich,  says  the  Reviewer, 
would  '  destroy  our  national  life.' 

"But  we  deny  that  this  Deliverance  of  the 
Assembly  establishes  any  new  term  of  commun- 
ion. The  terms  of  Christian  fellowship  are  laid 
down  in  the  Word  of  God,  and  are  embodied  in 
our  Standards.  It  is  competent  to  this  Court  to 
interpret  and  apply  the  doctrines  of  the  AVord ; 
to  warn  men  against  prevailing  sins ;  and  to 
urge  the  performance  of  neglected  duties.  We 
regard  the  action,  against  which  these  protests 
are  leveled,  simply  as  a  faithful  declaration  by 
the  Assembly,  of  Christian  duty  toward  those  in 
authority  over  us ;  which  adds  nothing  to  the 
terms  of  communion  already  recognized.  Surely 
the  idea  of  the  obligation  of  loyalty  to  our  Fed- 


APPENDIX.  235 

eral  Government  is  no  new  thing  to  Presbyte- 
rians. 

"  And  this  is  a  sufficient  reply,  also,  to  the  sec- 
ond article  of  this  protest.  Having  established 
no  new  term  of  membership,  this  Assembly  is 
not  liable  to  the  charge  of  having  departed  from 
the  old  paths." — Minutes  of  the  General  Assembly^ 
j>ages  342  and  343. 

There  was  no  question  between  the  Assembly 
and  the  protestants  as  to  the  doctrine  that  the 
Church  must  not  handle  political  affairs ;  the 
only  question  Avas  one  of  fact  or  opinion  as  to 
whether  the  act  in  question  was  political.  Both 
agreed  upon  the  principle^  the  difference  was  as 
to  the  application  of  the  principle  to  a  certain 
state  of  facts.  There  was  no  question  either  as 
to  the  judgment  of  the  Assembly,  whether  right 
or  wrong  in  itself,  but  simply  and  solely  Avhether, 
as  a  Spiritual  Court,  it  had  a  right  to  pronounce 
any  judgment  at  all  upon  the  subject.  Let  this 
be  borne  distinctly  in  mind. 

The  decisive  question  was  here  settled,  and 
upon  the  Acts  of  subsequent  years  we  need  but 
glance.  In  1862,  {Minutes,  p.  624)  an  elaborate 
paper  was  adopted  recognizing  the  fact  that  the 
Federal  Government  was  the  "  powers  that  be  " 
which  are  ordained  of  God,  that  loyalty  was  due 
to  it,  that  rebellion  against  it  might  be,  perhaps 
was,  sin,  that  it  ought  to  crush  force  by  force, 
and  that  the  Church  should  uphold  it.  A  paper 
adopted  with  less  opposition,  as  the  Southern 
Churches  were  unrepresented  and  its  action  re- 
spected only  those  in  States  connected  Avith  the 
Central  Government. 


23G  EIGHTY    YEAPwS. 

In  1863  a  paper  Avas  adopted  refusing  to  dis- 
play a  flag  upon  the  building  in  which  the  As- 
sembly met,  and  reiterating  substantially  the 
Deliverances  of  previous  Assemblies. 

In  1864  an  elaborate  paper  was  adopted  on  the 
subject  of  slavery,  reviewing  the  action  of  the 
Church  upon  it,  and  citing  its  Deliverances 
through  successive  years  from  1787  onward 
(all  condemning  the  system,)  reaching  this  con- 
clusion, "that  in  the  judgment  of  the  Assem- 
bly the  time  has  at  length  come,  in  the  provi- 
dence of  God,  Avhen  it  is  his  will  that  every  ves- 
tige of  human  slavery  among  us  should  be  ef- 
faced, and  that  every  Christian  man  should  ad- 
dress himself  with  industry  and  earnestness  to 
his  appropriate  part  in  the  performance  of  this 
great  duty."  This  action  is  objected  against, 
not  only  because  slavery  is  a  political  institution, 
but  because  contradictory  of  previous  testimonies 
of  the  Assembly.  Two  Deliverances  bring  out 
the  precise  position  of  our  Church  on  this  whole 
subject.  That  of  1818,  drawn  up  by  Dr.  Baxter, 
of  Virginia,  supported  by  all  the  Southern  mem- 
bers and  adopted  by  the  Assembly  unanimously. 
A  few  extracts  will  bring  out  the  main  positions 
taken  in  this  paper  of  1818. 

"  The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  having  taken  into  consideration  the  sub- 
ject of  slavery,  think  proper  to  make  known  their 
sentiments  upon  it  to  the  churches  and  people 
under  their  care. 

"  We  consider  the  voluntary  enslaving  of  one 
portion  of  the  human  race  by  another,  as  a  gross 
violation  of  the  most  precious  and  sacred  rights 


APPENDIX.  237 

of  human  nature  ;  as  utterly  inconsistent  with 
the  law  of  God,  which  requires  us  to  love  our 
neighbor  as  ourselves,  and  as  totally  irreconcil- 
able with  the  spirit  and  principles  of  the  gospel 
of  Christ,  which  enjoin  that  '  all  things  whatso- 
ever ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye 
even  so  to  them.'  Slavery  creates  a  paradox  in 
the  moral  system ;  it  exhibits  rational,  account- 
able, and  immortal  beings  in  such  circumstances 
as  scarcely  to  leave  them  the  power  of  moral  ac- 
tion. It  exhibits  them  as  dependent  on  the  will 
of  others,  whether  they  shall  receive  religious  in- 
struction ;  whether  they  shall  know  and  worship 
the  true  God ;  whether  they  shall  enjoy  the  or- 
dinances of  the  gospel ;  whether  they  shall  per- 
form the  duties  and  cherish  the  endearments  of 
husbands  and  wives,  parents  and  children,  neigh- 
bors and  friends ;  whether  they  shall  preserve 
their  chastity  and  purity,  or  regard  the  dictates 
of  justice  and  humanity.  Such  are  some  of  the 
consequences  of  slavery — consequences  not  im- 
aginary, but  which  connect  themselves  with  its 
very  existence.  The  evils  to  which  the  slave  is 
always  exposed  often  take  place  in  fact,  and  in 
their  very  worst  degree  and  form ;  and  where 
all  of  them  do  not  take  place,  as  we  rejoice  to 
say  in  many  instances,  through  the  influence  of 
the  principles  of  humanity  and  religion  on  the 
mind  of  masters,  they  do  not — still  the  slave  is 
deprived  of  his  natural  right,  degraded  as  a  hu- 
man being,  and  exposed  to  the  danger  of  passing 
into  the  hands  of  a  master  who  ma}^  inflict  upon 
him  all  the  hardships  and  injuries  which  inhu- 
manity and  avarice  may  suggest. 


238  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

"  From  this  view  of  the  consequences  resulting 
from  the  practice  into  which  Christian  people 
have  most  inconsistently  fallen,  of  enslaving  a 
portion  of  their  brethren  of  mankind — for  '  God 
hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  to 
dwell  on  the  face  of  the  earth  ' — it  is  manifestly 
the  duty  of  all  Christians  who  enjoy  the  light  of 
the  present  day,  when  the  inconsistency  of  slav- 
ery both  with  the  dictates  of  humanity  and  re- 
ligion, has  been  demonstrated,  and  is  generall}'^ 
seen  and  acknowledged,  to  use  their  honest, 
earnest,  and  unwearied  endeavors  to  correct  the 
errors  of  former  times,  and  as  speedily  as  possi- 
ble to  efface  this  blot  on  our  holy  religion,  and 
to  obtain  the  complete  abolition  of  slavery 
throughout  Christendom,  and  if  possible  through- 
out the  world." — BaircVs  Digest^  pp.  809,  10. 

The  Paper  of  1845,  adopted  by  a  large  ma- 
jority, was  drawn  up  by  Dr.  Rice,  of  Kew 
York.  Of  this  Assembly  I  was  a  member,  and 
for  this  paper  I  voted.  Its  main  features  are 
these : 

*'  The  committee  to  whom  were  referred  the 
memorials  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  beg  leave  to 
submit  the  following  report : 

"  The  memorialists  may  be  divided  into  three 
classes,  viz : 

"  1.  Those  which  represent  the  S3^stem  of 
slavery,  as  it  exists  in  these  United  States,  as  a 
great  evil,  and  pray  this  General  Assembly  to 
adopt  measures  for  the  amelioration  of  the  con- 
dition of  the  slaves. 

"  2.  Those  which  ask  the  Assembly  to  receive 
memorials  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  to  allow  a 


APPENDIX.  239 

full  discussion  of  it,  and  to  enjoin  upon  the 
members  of  our  Church,  residing  in  States  Avhose 
laws  forbid  the  slaves  being  taught  to  read,  to 
seek  by  all  lawful  means  the  repeal  of  those 
laws. 

"  3.  Those  w^iich  represent  slavery  as  a  moral 
evil,  a  heinous  sin  in  the  sight  of  God,  calculated 
to  bring  upon  the  Church  the  curse  of  God,  and 
calling  for  the  exercise  of  discipline  in  the  case 
of  those  who  persist  in  maintaining  or  justifying 
the  relation  of  master  to  slave. 

"  The  question  which  is  now  unhappily  agita- 
ting and  dividing  other  branches  of  the  Church, 
and  which  is  pressed  upon  the  attention  of  the 
Assembly  by  one  of  the  three  classes  of  memori- 
alists just  named,  is,  whether  the  holding  of 
slaves  is,  under  all  circumstances,  a  heinous  sin, 
calling  for  the  discipline  of  the  Church. 

"  The  church  of  Christ  is  a  spiritual  body, 
whose  jurisdiction  extends  to  the  religious  faith 
and  moral  conduct  of  her  members.  She  cannot 
legislate,  where  Christ  has  not  legislated,  nor 
make  terms  of  membership  which  he  has  not 
made.  The  question,  therefore,  which  this  As- 
sembly is  called  to  decide,  is  this :  Do  the  Scrip- 
tures teach  that  the  holding  of  slaves,  without 
regard  to  circumstances,  is  a  sin,  the  renuncia- 
tion of  which  should  be  made  a  condition  of 
membership  in  the  Church  of  Christ  ? 

"  It  is  impossible  to  answer  this  question  in  the 
affirmative,  without  contradicting  some  of  the 
plainest  declarations  of  the  Word  of  God.  That 
slavery  existed  in  the  days  of  Christ  and  his 
Apostles  is  an  admitted  fact.     That  they  did  not 


2tl:0  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

denounce  the  relation  itself  as  sinful,  as  incon- 
sistent with  Christianity  ;  that  slaveholders  were 
admitted  to  membership  in  the  Churches  organ- 
ized by  the  Apostles ;  that  whilst  they  Avere  re- 
quired to  treat  their  slaves  with  kindness,  and  as 
rational,  accountable,  immortal  beings,  and,  if 
Christians,  as  brethren  in  the  Lord,  they  were 
not  commanded  to  emancipate  them  ;  that  slaves 
were  required  to  be  'obedient  to  their  masters 
according  to  the  flesh,  with  fear  and  trembling, 
with  singleness  of  heart  as  unto  Christ,'  are 
facts  which  meet  the  eye  of  every  reader  of  the 
New  Testament.  This  Assembly  cannot,  there- 
fore, denouTice  the  holding  of  slaves  as  neces- 
sarily a  heinous  and  scandalous  sin,  calculated  to 
bring  upon  the  Church  the  curse  of  God,  without 
charging  the  Apostles  of  Christ  with  conniving 
at  sin,  introducing  into  the  Church  such  sinners, 
and  thus  bringing  upon  them  the  curse  of  the 
Almighty. 

*'  In  so  saying,  however,  the  Assembly  are  not 
to  be  undei^tood  as  denying  that  there  is  evil 
connected  with  slavery.  Much  less  do  they  ap- 
prove those  defective'^  and  oppressive  laws  by 
which,  in  some  of  the  States,  it  is  regulated. 
Nor  would  they  by  any  means  countenance  the 
traffic  in  slaves  for  the  sake  of  gain ;  the  separa- 
tion of  husbands  and  wives,  parents  and  children, 
for  the  sake  of  '  filthy  lucre,'  or  for  the  conven- 
ience of  the  master  ;  or  cruel  treatment  of  slaves, 
in  any  respect.  Every  Christian  and  philan- 
thropist should  certainly  seek  by  all  peaceable  and 
lawful  means,  the  repeal  of  unjust  and  oppressive 
laws,  and  the  amendment  of  such  as  are  defec- 


APPENDIX.  241 

tive,  so  as  to  protect  the  slaves  from  cruel  treat- 
ment bv  wicked  men,  and  secure  to  them  the 
right  to  receive  religious  instruction. 

"Nor  is  the  Assembly  to  be  understood  as 
countenancing  the  idea  that  masters  may  regard 
their  servants  as  mere  property,  and  not  as  hu- 
man beings,  rational,  accountable,  immortal. 
The  Scriptures  prescribe  not  only  the  duties  of 
servants,  but  of  masters  also,  warning  the  latter 
to  discharge  those  duties,  'knowing  that  their 
Master  is  in  heaven,  neither  is  there  respect  of 
persons  with  him.' 

"In  view  of  the  above  stated  principles  and 
facts : 

"  Resolved^  1.  That  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States 
was  originally  organized,  and  has  since  continued 
the  bond  of  union  in  the  Church,  upon  the  con- 
ceded principle  that  the  existence  of  domestic 
slavery,  under  the  circumstances  in  which  it  is 
found  in  the  Southern  portion  of  the  country,  is 
no  bar  to  Christian  communion. 

"  2.  That  the  petitions  that  ask  the  Assembly 
to  make  the  holding  of  slaves  in  itself  a  matter 
of  discipline,  do  virtually  require  this  judicatory 
to  dissolve  itself,  and  abandon  the  organization, 
under  which,  by  the  Divine  blessing,  it  has  so 
long  prospered.  The  tendency  is  evidently  to 
separate  the  Northern  from  the  Southern  portion 
of  the  Church  ;  a  result  which  every  good  citizen 
must  deplore,  as  tending  to  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union  of  our  beloved  country,  and  which  every 
enlightened  Christian  will  oppose  as  bringing 
about  a  ruinous  and  unnecessarv  schism  between 


242  EIGHTY   YEAES. 

brethren  who  maintain  a  common  faith.'' — 
Baird''s  Digest^]).  813. 

In  1846  the  General  Assembly  aiTirmed  the 
agreement  of  all  its  Deliverances  on  the  subject 
of  slavery  in  these  words : 

"  Our  Church  has,  from  time  to  time,  during  a 
period  of  nearly  sixty  years,  expressed  its  views 
on  the  subject  of  slavery.  During  all  this  period 
it  has  held  and  uttered  substantially  the  same 
sentiments.  Believing  that  this  uniform  testi- 
mony is  true,  and  capable  of  vindication  from 
the  Word  of  God,  the  Assembly  is  at  the  same 
time  clearly  of  the  opinion  that  it  has  already 
deliberately  and  solemnly  spoken  on  this  subject 
with  sufficient  fullness  and  clearness.    Therefore, 

''''Resolved^  That  in  the  judgment  of  this 
House,  the  action  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
1845  was  not  intended  to  deny  or  rescind  the 
testimony  uttered  often  by  the  General  Assem- 
blies previous  to  that  date." — Bairdh  Digest^  i?. 
814. 

The  last  Assembly  affirmed  that  the  actions  of 
'64  and  '65  are  not  contradictory  of  any  previous 
actions. 

The  seeming  contradiction  vanishes  when  we 
remember  that  the  Assembly  held  that  the  mere 
relation  of  master  and  slave  was  not  sinful,  and 
could  not  be  made  a  bar  to  communion.  This  is 
the  fact  which  the  paper  of  1845  affirms  and 
draws  out  to  its  legitimate  consequences.  The 
papers  of  1818  and  1864,  on  the  other  hand, 
affirm  that  the  system  of  slavery,  with  all  the 
laws,  usages  and  abuses  Avhich  had  actually 
grown  up  within  and  around  it  was  an  evil.     The 


APPENDIX.  243 

one  condemns  the  system  as  sinful,  the  other  de- 
nies that  every  one  implicated  in  the  system  is 
necessarily  a  sinner. 

We  come  now  to  the  action  of  1865,  which 
differs  in  one  essential  feature  from  all  these. 
In  all  former  Deliverances  the  Assembly  simply 
exercised  its  office  of  instruction,  and  propounded 
its  opinions  or  sentiments  as  a  Keligious  Teacher. 
Here  it  exercises  its  power  of  Government. 

"  I.  The  right  of  every  Presbytery  to  exam- 
ine ministers  asking  admission  into  their  body,  as 
to  their  soundness  in  the  faith,  which  has  been 
long  acknowledged  and  practiced  by  our  Pres- 
byteries, implies  their  right  by  parity  of  reason- 
ing to  examine  them  on  all  subjects  Avhich  seri- 
ously affect  the  peace,  purity,  and  unity  of  the 
Church. 

"  II.  The  exercise  of  this  right  becomes  an 
imperative  duty,  in  the  present  circumstances  of 
our  country,  when,  after  the  crushing  by  military 
force  of  an  atrocious  rebellion  against  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States,  for  the  perpetua- 
tion of  slavery,  many  ministers  who  have  aided 
and  abetted  this  revolt,  may  seek  admission  into 
Presbyteries  located  in  the  loyal  States.  There- 
fore, 

"  III.  It  is  hereby  ordered  that  all  our  Pres- 
byteries examine  ever}^  minister  applying  for  ad- 
mission from  any  Presbytery  or  other  ecclesias- 
tical body  in  the  Southern  States,  on  the  following 
points : 

"  1.  Whether  he  has  in  any  way,  directly  or 
indirectly,  of  his  own  free  will  and  consent,  or 
without  external  constraint,  been  concerned  at 


244    '  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

any  time  in  aiding  or  countenancing  the  rebellion 
and  the  war  which  has  been  waged  against  the 
United  States  ;  and  if  it  be  found  by  his  own 
confession  or  from  sufficient  testimony,  that  he 
has  been  so  concerned,  that  he  be  required  to 
confess  and  forsake  his  sin  in  this  regard  before 
he  shall  be  received. 

"2.  Whether  he  holds  that  the  system  of 
negro  slavery  in  the  South  is  a  Divine  institu- 
tion, and  that  it  is  '  the  peculiar  mission  of  the 
Southern  Church  to  conserve  the  institution  of 
slavery  as  there  maintained,'  and  if  it  be  found 
that  he  holds  either  of  these  doctrines,  that  he  be 
not  received  without  renouncing  and  forsaking 
these  errors. 

"  y.  Church  sessions  are  also  ordered  to  ex- 
amine all  applicants  for  church  membership  by 
persons  from  the  Southern  States,  or  who  have 
been  living  in  the  South  since  the  rebellion,  con- 
cerning their  conduct  and  principles  on  the  points 
above  specified ;  and  if  it  be  found  that  of  their 
own  free  will  they  have  taken  up  arms  against 
the  United  States,  or  that  they  hold  slavery  to 
be  an  ordinance  of  God,  as  above  stated,  such 
persons  shall  not  be  admitted  to  the  communion 
of  the  Church  till  they  give  evidence  of  repent- 
ance for  their  sin  and  renounce  their  error. 

"  YI.  The  General  Assembly  gives  counsel  to 
the  several  church  courts  specified  in  these  or- 
ders, that  in  discharging  the  duties  enjoined 
therein,  due  regard  be  paid  to  the  circumstances 
of  the  case  and  that  justice  be  tempered  with 
mercy.  Especially  is  this  counsel  given  to 
churches  in  the  border  States,  where  many  im- 


APPENDIX.  245 

pulsive  and  ardent  yonng  men,  without  due  con- 
sideration, have  been  led  away  by  their  supe- 
riors, or  seduced  from  their  loyalty  by  their 
erroneous  interpretation  of  the  doctrine  of  State 
rights.''— Ifimctes  1865,  j9.  563. 

The  Assembly  just  adjourned  does  not  properly 
come  under  our  notice  here,  for  confessedly, 
there  was  nothing  political  in  its  Acts  and  Deliv- 
erances, save  as  these  contained  incidental  refer- 
ences to  the  Acts  of  preceding  Assemblies.  The 
"  Declaration  and  Testimony "  against  which, 
and  against  the  Presbytery  of  Louisville  which 
adopted,  and  the  individual  ministers  and  elders 
who  signed  it,  the  judgment  of  the  Assembly 
was  pronounced,  was  a  strictly  ecclesiastical  pa- 
per, and  contained  nothing  political.  The  offense 
charged  against  those  who  adopted  and  signed 
it,  was  not  political  but  ecclesiastical.  They 
were  condemned  for  what  was  declared  to  be  an 
act  of  defiance  and  insubordination  against  the 
lawful  authority  of  the  highest  court  of  the 
Church.  It  was  not  for  the  principles  they 
avowed,  for  those  principles  were  mainly  true — 
nor  for  the  dissent  and  disapproval  they  uttered 
against  the  Acts  of  the  Assembly,  for  the  As- 
sembly explicitly  recognized  their  right  to  dis- 
sent ;  nor  for  their  refusal  to  carry  out  any  sup- 
posed orders  of  the  Assembly,  for  this  the  As- 
sembly did  not  require,  but  simply  and  solely 
because  of  their  open  defiance  of  the  authority 
of  a  court  to  which  their  ordination  vows  and 
the  laws  of  Christ's  House  bound  them  to  submit. 
I  am  not  saying  now  that  the  process  was  prop- 
erly conducted,  for  I  do  not  think  so,  and  voted 


246  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

against  it,  at  every  step,  but  simply  that  the 
whole  matter  was  ecclesiastical,  not  political,  and 
the  errors,  whatever  they  were,  were  altogether 
errors  in  the  mode  of  conducting  a  process  w^hich 
it  was  confessedly  competent  to  conduct.  And 
I  give  it  as  my  honest  opinion  from  constant  and 
large  intercourse  with  members  of  the  Assembly, 
and  especially  of  its  leaders,  and  from  careful 
observation  of  their  spirit  and  purposes,  that  had 
it  not  been  for  the  lavish  distribution  through 
the  house  of  the  Declaration  and  Testimony  in 
printed  form,  which  they  regarded  as  an  intended 
insult  and  defiance  of  their  authority,  and  for  the 
presence  of  some  Avhom  they  considered  as  sent 
there  in  open  contempt  of  them  as  a  court  of 
Christ's  House,  there  would  have  been  nothing 
done  at  the  last  Assembly  to  occasion  disquiet  to 
any — nothing  but  efforts  to  bind  up  what  was 
broken.  That  is  my  honest  and  deliberate  opin- 
ion, which  you  may  take  for  what  it  is  worth.  I 
differed  from  the  policy  pursued,  but  I  feel 
bound  to  say,  that  in  my  judgment,  it  sprang 
from  a  sincere  desire  to  vindicate  w^hat  was  con- 
sidered the  lawful  authority  and  dignity  of  the 
highest  court  of  Christ's  House. 

It  has  been  often  repeated  that  the  commis- 
sioners from  the  Louisville  Presbytery  were  ex- 
pelled from  the  house  without  having  a  trial. 
The  simple  fact  w^as  that  they  were  suspended 
from  their  privileges  as  members  of  the  body  un- 
til their  case  should  be  taken  up,  when,  by  ex- 
press resolution,  their  right  to  a  full  hearing  was 
recognized.  And  this  suspension  until  their  case 
was  taken  up  was  justified  by  those  who  advo- 


APPENDIX.  24T 

catecl  it,  on  the  principle  recognized  in  our  book, 
that  wiiere  persons  are  charged  with  grave  of- 
fenses, the  court  which  takes  cognizance  of  the 
case  may  suspend  them  from  their  privileges 
until  it  can  be  taken  up. 

It  has  been  charged  that  the  spirit  of  the  As- 
sembly Avas  unkind,  particularly  toward  our 
Southern  brethren.  An  answer  may  be  found 
in  the  following  paper,  offered  by  me  and 
adopted  almost  unanimously : 

''  Whereas,  The  churches  in  that  portion  of 
our  country  lately  in  rebellion,  whose  names  ap- 
pear upon  our  roll,  have  not  been  represented  in 
this  Assembly,  and  still  remain  in  a  state  of  sep- 
aration from  us ;  and  whereas,  the  measures 
adopted  by  this  Assembly,  if  not  carried  out  by 
the  lower  courts  in  a  spirit  of  great  meekness 
and  forbearance,  may  result  in  perpetuating  and 
embittering  divisions  already  existing,  and  ex- 
tending them  over  portions  of  our  Church  now 
at  peace.     Therefore,  be  it 

'''-Resolved,  That  this  Assembly  greatly  de- 
plores the  continued  separation  between  ourselves 
and  our  Southern  brethren,  so  long  united  with 
us  in  the  bonds  of  Christian  love  and  ecclesias- 
tical fellowship,  and  expresses  the  earnest  desire 
that  the  way  may  be  soon  opened  for  a  reunion  on 
the  basis  of  our  common  standards,  and  on  terms 
consistent  with  truth  and  righteousness. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  lower  courts  who  may  be 
called  upon  to  execute  the  measures  of  this  As- 
sembly, be  enjoined  to  j^roceed  therein  with  great 
meekness  and  forbearance,  and  in  a  spirit  of  kind- 
ness and  conciliation,  to  the  end  that  strifes  and 


248  EIGHTY    YEAKS. 

dissensions  be  not  multiplied  and  inflamed  and 
extended  still  more  Avidely,  and  that  the  disci- 
pline of  Christ's  House  may  prove  for  edilication 
and  not  for  destruction." — Proceedings,  186G,j!?. 
99. 

It  is  a  mistake  that  the  last  Assembly  requires 
any  oath  of  any  kind  from  the  members  of  our 
churches.  It  is  a  mistake  that  it  claims  or  holds 
Zion  Church,  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  as  its  property 
— or  that  any  Assembly  at  any  time  went  in  a 
body  to  the  rooms  of  any  Loyal  League  and  made 
political  speeches,  or  rose  to  their  feet  and  sang 
patriotic  songs.  These  are  little  things,  men- 
tioned here  only  as  specimens  of  misapprehen- 
sions extensively  prevailing  and  encountered  by 
us  upon  the  streets. 

And  now  from  this  long  and  tedious  review  we 
come  back  to  the  simple  question  before  us. 

The  Assembly  declares  that  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment is  that  ordinance  of  God  which  we  are 
bound  to  reverence  and  obey  ;  and  that  rebellion 
against  it  is  a  sin,  to  be  visited  upon  those  guilty 
of  it  as  other  sins.  These  two  statements  em- 
brace in  substance  the  whole.  And  now,  with- 
out any  question  as  to  whether  they  are  true  or 
false  in  themselves,  had  the  Church  as  such  a 
right  to  declare  and  enforce  them  ?  If  not,  did 
it  intermeddle  with  civil  affairs  which  concern 
the  Commonwealth  in  such  a  way  and  so  far  as 
to  make  it  an  apostate  Church  ? 

In  reply  we  remark :  I.  These  Acts  are  in 
entire  harmony  with  the  Acts  and  Deliverances 
of  our  Church  from  its  very  beginning  in  this 


APPENDIX.  249 

country.  And  if  apostate  now,  and  because  of 
these,  then  has  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  this 
land  been  always  apostate.  In  Baird's  Digest, 
under  the  caption  ''•  Pastoral  Letter  on  occasion 
of  the  old  French  War,"  before  the  Assembly 
was  organized,  the  Synod  of  New  York  says: 
"  We  look  on  ourselves  bound,  not  only  as  mem- 
bers of  the  community,  but  by  the  duty  of  our 
office,  as  those  who  are  intrusted  with  the  decla- 
ration of  God's  revealed  will,  to  exhort  all  to 
implore  God's  merc}^  for  themselves,  their  chil- 
dren, country  and  nation,  their  and  our  rightful 
and  gracious  sovereign,  King  George  the  Second, 
his  royal  family,  all  officers  civil  and  military." 
The  highest  Church  court  distinctly  recognizes 
the  reigning  King,  "the  powers  that  be,"  as  "our 
rightful  and  gracious  sovereign." — BaircVs  Di- 
gest, :p,  820. 

Again  we  find  "  A  Pastoral  Letter  on  the 
Kepeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,"  in  which,  after  speak- 
ing of  the  imposition  of  unusual  taxes,  the  severe 
restrictions  on  trade,  the  almost  total  stagnation 
of  business  and  the  danger  of  being  deprived  of 
the  blessing  of  English  liberty,  from  all  which 
they  had  been  delivered  by  the  clemency  of  the 
Government,  we  find  these  words :  "  You  will  not 
forget  to  honor  your  King  and  pay  a  due  submis- 
sion to  his  august  Parliament.  Let  this  fresh 
instance  of  royal  clemency  increase  the  ardor  of 
your  affection  to  the  person,  family  and  govern- 
ment of  our  rightful  and  gracious  sovereign. 
We  most  earnestly  recommend  it  to  you  to  en- 
courage and  strengthen  the  hands  of  Govern- 
ment, to  demonstrate  on  every  proper  occasion 


250  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

your  undissembled  love  for  your  mother  country 
and  your  attachment  to  her  true  interest,  so  in- 
separably connected  with  your  own." — Do.jy-  821. 

Again,  "  on  the  Revolutionary  War,"  after 
stating  that  in  such  a  crisis  as  that  of  impending 
war,  they  felt  bound  as  the  highest  tribunal  of 
the  Church,  to  speak  to  the  congregations  under 
their  care,  and  after  reviewing  the  causes  which 
led  to  the  war,  they  go  on  in  these  words :  "  First, 
In  carrying  on  this  important  struggle  let  every 
opportunity  be  taken  to  express  your  attachment 
and  respect  to  our  sovereign.  King  George,  and 
to  the  revolution  principles  by  which  his  august 
family  was  seated  on  the  British  throne.  Sec- 
ondly, Be  careful  to  maintain  the  union  which  at 
present  subsists  through  all  the  colonies;  nothing 
can  be  more  manifest  than  that  the  success  of 
every  measure  depends  on  its  being  inviolably 
preserved.  In  particular  as  the  Continental  Con- 
gress now  sitting  at  Philadelphia  consists  of  dele- 
gates chosen  in  the  most  free  and  •  unbiased 
manner  by  the  body  of  the  people,  let  them  not 
only  be  treated  with  respect  and  encouraged  in 
their  difficult  service,  but  adhere  firmly  to  their 
resolutions,  and  let  it  be  seen  that  they  are  able 
to  bring  out  the  whole  strength  of  this  vast 
country  to  carrv  them  into  execution." — Do.  p. 
823. 

What  more  has  any  Assembly  said  ? 

See  again  "  Address  to  the  French  Minister  on 
the  birth  of  the  Dauphin,"  and  "  Address  to  Wash- 
ington on  his  election  to  the  Presidency,"  "  Tes- 
timony against  Persecution  in  Switzerland,"  "  Pe- 
tition to  Congress  on  Sabbath  Mail,"  and  report 


APPENDIX,  251 

presented  by  Dr.  Pluraer  and  adopted  in  1853, 
from  which  I  quote  the  three  concluding  resolu- 
tions : 

^'-l.  Resolved^  That  this  Assembly  cordially 
approves  of  the  provisions  of  a  late  treaty  Avith 
the  Oriental  Republic  of  Uruguay,  already  cited, 
and  trusts  that  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  will,  by  treaty,  secure  the  acknowledgment 
of  the  same  inestimable  rights  by  all  other  gov- 
ernments where  it  may  be  practicable. 

"5.  Resolved^  That  the  people  of  the  congre- 
gations in  our  connection  be  advised  to  unite  with 
their  fellow-citizens  in  urging  upon  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  a  careful  and  earnest 
attention  to  this  matter. 

"  6.  Resolved^  That  a  duly  attested  copy  of 
these  resolutions  be  furnished  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  to  the  President  of  the  Senate, 
and  to  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives of  the  next  Congress  for  the  consideration 
of  each  of  these  branches  of  the  Government  of 
our  country." — Digest^  p.  788. 

And  so,  we  submit,  the  Presbyterian  Church 
from  its  very  origin,  especially  during  the  Revo- 
lution, the  only  times  parallel  to  our  own,  has 
acted  on  precisely  the  same  principle  as  did  the 
Assembly  during  our  late  civil  convulsions. 

II.  All  Evangelical  Churches,  both  E'orth  and 
South,  have  taken  precisely  the  same  position  and 
made  substantially  the  same  Deliverances  as  our 
own. 

1.  The  CoQigregationalists. — The  different  Con- 
gregational bodies  in  the  Eastern,  Western  and 


252  EIGHTY    YEAKS. 

Middle  States,  as  all  know,  Avith  one  consent  took 
action,  the  same  in  substance,  far  stronger  in 
language  than  our  own. 

2.  The  LiUherans. — The  General  Synod  of  the 
Lutheran  Church,  in  1862,  after  a  preamble  de- 
claring that  the  rebellion  was  against  the  laAv- 
fully  constituted  Government,  that  that  Govern- 
ment must  be  sustained  as  an  ordinance  of  God ; 
that  they  feel  bound  to  express  their  convictions 
of  truth  and  sustain  the  great  interests  of  law  and 
authority,  Resolved : 

"  1.  That  it  is  the  deliberate  judgment  of  this 
Synod  that  the  rebellion  against  the  Constitu- 
tional Government  of  this  land  is  most  wicked  in 
its  inception,  unjustifiable  in  its  cause,  inhuman 
in  its  prosecution,  and  destructive  in  its  results  to 
the  highest  interests  of  morality  and  religion. 

"  2.  That  in  the  suppression  of  this  rebellion 
and  in  the  maintenance  of  the  Constitution  and 
Union  by  the  sword,  we  recognize  an  unavoidable 
necessity  and  a  sacred  duty  which  the  Govern- 
ment '  oAves  to  the  nation  and  to  the  Avorld,'  and 
call  upon  our  people  to  pray  for  '  success  to  the 
army  and  navy,  that  our  beloved  land  ma}^  speed- 
ily be  delivered  from  treason  and  anarch3\'  In 
1864  the  Synod  reiterates  and  reaffirms  its  ac- 
tion."— McPherson,  p.  478. 

3.  The  German  Reformed. — The  German  Re- 
formed Synod  of  Pennsyh^ania  in  1864,  resolved 
"  that  this  Convention  deems  it  right  and  proper 
to  give  expression  to  the  unfaltering  devotion 
Avith  Avhich  the  German  Reformed  Church  in  the 
United  States  has  hitherto  sustained  the  cause  of 
our  common  country,  and  we  earnestly  urge  upon 


APPENDIX.  253 

our  clergy  and  laity  to  continue  to  labor  and  pray 
for  the  success  of  the  Government  in  its  efforts 
to  suppress  the  existing  rebellion,  and  to  restore 
peace  and  union." — Do.  jj.  482. 

The  General  Synod  of  the  Dutch  Reformed 
Church  adopted  still  stronger  resolutions  in  1863. 

4.  The  Baptists. — At  the  General  Convention 
of  the  Baptists  in  Brooklyn  in  1861,  it  was  re- 
solved "  that  the  doctrine  of  secession  is  foreign 
to  our  Constitution,  revolutionary,  suicidal,  set- 
ting out  in  anarchy  and  finding  its  ultimate  issue 
in  despotism.  2.  That  the  National  Government 
deserves  our  loyal  adhesion  and  unstinted  support 
in  its  maintenance  of  the  national  unity  and  life." 

The  New  York  Baptist  Convention  of  1862  re- 
solved that  "  as  a  religious  body  we  deem  it  our 
duty  to  cherish  and  manifest  the  deepest  sym- 
pathy for  the  preservation  and  perpMuity  of  a 
Government  which  protects  us  in  the  great  work 
of  Christian  civilization."  Similar  resolutions 
were  adopted  by  the  Baptist  Conventions  of  New 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio. — Do.  p.  474. 

5.  Methodist  Protestant. — The  Methodist  Prot- 
estant Church  at  its  General  Convention  in  1862 
made  a  deliverance  of  a  tenor  precisely  similar  to 
those  of  the  Baptists. — Do.  p.  499. 

6.  Methodist  Episcopal. — The  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  in  its  General  Convention  in  1864, 
Eesolved,  among  other  things, 

"  2.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Government  to 
prosecute  the  war  with  all  its  resources  of  men 
and  money  till  this  wicked  rebellion  shall  be  sub- 
dued, the  integrity  of  the  nation  shall  be  secured 
and  its  legitimate  authority  shall  be  established, 


254  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

and  that  we  pledge  our  hearty  support  and  coop- 
eration to  secure  this  result." 

"  5.  That  we  regard  slavery  as  abhorrent  to 
the  principles  of  our  holy  religion,  humanity  and 
civilization,  and  that  we  are  in  favor  of  such  meas- 
ures as  will  '  prohibit  slavery  or  involuntary  serv- 
itude, except  for  crime,  throughout  all  the  States 
and  Territories  of  the  country.'  "     Do.  p.  498. 

7.  Protestant  Episcojjal.  —  The  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  Diocese  of  Pennsylvania 
in  1864,  Kesolved, 

''  That  we  hereby  declare  our  unfaltering  alle- 
giance to  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
and  that  we  pledge  it  our  willing  devotion  and 
service,"  and  will  pray  that  our  now  lacerated 
country  may  be  so  reunited,  that  "  there  shall  be 
but  one  Union,  one  Government,  one  Plag,  one 
Constitutio^n." 

In  the  General  Convention  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States,  held  in 
New  York  in  1862,  the  committee  to  whom  had 
been  referred  a  number  of  papers  on  the  state  of 
the  country,  preface  their  report,  which  was 
adopted  as  the  action  of  the  Church  on  the  sub- 
ject, with  the  remark,  that  in  framing  the  reso- 
lutions, "  They  have  designed  to  leave  no  room 
for  honest  doubt,  or  even  for  invidious  miscon- 
struction as  to  the  hearty  loyalty  of  this  body  to 
the  Government  of  the  United  States."  And 
further,  "  There  could  have  been  no  hesitation 
under  any  circumstances  in  expressing  now  and 
always  our  earnest  and  abiding  loyalty  and  de- 
votion to  our  country,  its  Constitution  and  its 
laws,  and  to  all  its  dulv  constituted  authorities." 


APPENDIX.  255 

Here  follows  a  series  of  resolutions  expressing 
their  loyalty  to  the  Government,  their  condem- 
nation of  the  rebellion  and  hope  for  the  speedy 
restoration  'of  our  beloved  Union,  while  at  the 
same  time  they  avoided  entering  upon  "  any 
narrow  questions,  which  peculiarly  belong  to  the 
domain  of  secular  politics." 

In  the  long  letter  of  the  Bishops  to  the  Churches 
we  find  the  following :  ''  When  St.  Paul,  in  di- 
rect connection  with  the  words  just  cited,  exhorts 
us  to  '  render  to  all  their  dues,  tribute  to  whom 
tribute  is  due,  custom  to  whom  custom,  fear  to 
whom  fear,  honor  to  whom  honor,'  and  that  '  not 
only  for  wrath,  but  for  conscience  sake,'  we  have 
no  hesitation  in  teaching  that  the  claim  to  all 
these  duties  and  manifestations  of  allegiance  and 
loyalty  from  us  and  from  all  those  States  so 
recently  united  in  rendering  them,  is  rightfully 
in  that  Government,  which  is  now  by  force  of 
arms  maintaining  such  claim.  The  refusal  of 
such  allegiance  we  hold  to  be  a  sin,  and  Avhen  it 
stands  forth  in  armed  rebellion,  it  is  a  great  crime 
before  the  laws  of  God,  as  Avell  as  man.  This, 
Brethren,  your  Bishops  teach  as  official  exposi- 
tors of  the  Word  of  God.  Less,  they  believe, 
they  could  not  teach  without  unfaithfulness  to 
the  Scriptures."— 2>^.j9.  483. 

8.  All  branches  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  : 
the  United  Presbyterian,  the  Cumberland  Pres- 
byterian, the  New  School  Presbyterian,  took  pre- 
cisely the  same  action.  As  a  specimen  of  all,  I  read 
the  Deliverance  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
General  Assembly  of  1863  :  "  Whereas,  the  Church 
is  the  light  of  the  world,  and  cannot  withhold 


256  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

her  testimony  upon  great  moral  and  religious 
questions ;  Resolved,  that  loyalty  and  obedience 
to  the  General  Gov^ernment,  in  the  exercise  of  its 
legitimate  authority,  are  the  imperative  Christian 
duties  of  every  citizen,  and  that  treason  and  re- 
bellion are  not  mere  political  offenses  of  one 
section  against  another,  but  heinous  sins  against 
God  and  his  authority." — Do.  p.  473. 

We  come  now  to  the  action  of  the  Evangelical 
Churches  in  the  Southern  States,  all  of  which  as- 
sumed the  same  attitude  toward  the  Government 
of  the  Confederate  States  and  expressed  toward 
it  the  same  duties  of  submission,  loyalty  and  de- 
votion as  an  ordinance  of  God.  And  I  need  not 
say  that  the  principles  in  question  are  the  same 
no  matter  to  what  Government  applied. 

The  Alabama  Baptist  State  Convention  in  No- 
vember, 1860,  before  war  had  commenced,  or  a 
single  State  seceded,  after  declaring  that  "  The 
Union  had  failed  in  important  particulars  to  an- 
swer the  end  for  which  it  was  created,"  continued 
in  these  words :  "  While  as  yet  no  particular  mode 
of  relief  is  before  us,  we  are  constrained  to  de- 
clare that  we  hold  ourselves  subject  to  the  call 
of  proper  authority  in  defense  of  the  sovereignty 
and  independence  of  the  State  of  Alabama,  and 
of  her  right,  as  a  sovereignty,  to  withdraw  from 
this  Union.  And  in  this  declaration  we  heartily, 
deliberately,  unanimously  and  solemnly  unite." 
— McPherson,  j>.  513. 

In  the  Georgia  Baptist  Convention  of  1861 : 
"  Whereas  the  State  Convention  of  Georgia,  in 
the  legitimate  exercise  of  her  sovereignty,  has 


APPENDIX.  257 

withdrawn  from  the  confederac}^  known  as  the 
United  States  of  America,  and  for  the  better 
maintenance  of  her  rights,  honor  and  independ- 
ence, has  united  with  other  States  in  a  new  con- 
federacy under  the  title  of  the  Confederate  States 
of  America  ;  and  whereas,  Abraham  Lincoln  is 
attempting  by  force  of  arms  to  subjugate  these 
States,  in  viofatiorr  of  the  fundamental  principles 
of  American  liberty — therefore  Resolved  " — then 
follow  resolutions  to  approve  and  support  the 
Government  of  the  Confederate  States,  urging 
the  union  of  all  the  people  of  the  South  in  de- 
fense of  the  common  cause  at  whatever  cost  of 
treasure  or  of  blood. — Do.  p.  513. 

The  Methodist,  the  Episcopal,  and  I  believe 
every  Church  South,  at  once  recognized  the  legiti- 
macy of  the  Government  of  the  Confederate 
States,  and  assumed  toward  it  the  same  attitude 
of  submission  and  loyalty  which  the  Churches 
North  had  assumed  toward  the  Government  of 
the  United  States. 

Some  of  the  very  first  notes  of  war,  as  you 
are  aware,  issued  from  the  pulpits  of  the  Old 
School  Presbyterian  Church.  Drs.  Thorn  well  and 
Palmer  were  universally  recognized  as  the  leaders 
of  the  body  and  their  voice  upon  all  questions 
was  most  potential.  On  the  21st  day  of  Novem- 
ber, 1860,  in  Columbia,  S.  C,  Dr.  Thornwell,  from 
the  pulpit,  discussed  the  theory  of  the  Govern- 
ment, the  relations  between  the  States  and  the 
Federal  Government,  and  advocated  the  political 
doctrine  of  States  Rights.  Dr.  Palmer,  from  his 
pulpit,  in  New  Orleans,  took  for  his  theme  that 
it    was  the  providential  trust  of  the  South  "to 


258  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

conserve  and  to  perpetuate  the  institution  of 
slavery  as  now  existing,"  "with  the  right  un- 
changed by  man  to  go  and  root  itself  wherever 
Providence  and  nature  may  carry  it ; "  and  urges 
the  fulfillment  of  this  trust  "  in  the  face  of  the 
utmost  possible  peril." — "  Should  the  madness  of 
the  hour  appeal  to  the  arbitration  of  the  sword 
we  will  not  shrink  even  from  the  baptism  of  fire." 
He  then  reviews  the  condition  of  political  parties, 
and  urges  Secession  as  an  immediate  and  impera- 
tive duty.  I  allude  to  these  celebrated  sermons 
because  they  were  such  potential  agencies  in  pre- 
cipitating the  political  catastrophe  which  fol- 
lowed. They  were  Avidely  circulated  as  cam- 
paign documents,  the  religious  papers  of  the 
South,  almost  without  exception,  echoed  their 
call,  and  the  several  Presbyteries,  one  after  one, 
stood  prepared  to  renounce  all  allegiance  to  the 
United  States  and  transfer  it  to  the  Confederate 
States. 

On  December  3d,  1860,  months  before  the  war 
commenced,  the  Synod  of  South  Carolina  de- 
clared :  "  The  Synod  has  no  hesitation,  there- 
fore, in  expressing  the  belief  that  the  people  of 
South  Carolina  are  now  called  upon  to  imitate 
their  Revolutionary  forefathers  and  stand  up  for 
their  rights.  We  have  an  humble  and  abiding 
confidence  that  the  God  whose  truth  we  repre- 
sent, in  this  conflict  will  be  with  us,  and  exhort- 
ing our  Churches  and  people  to  put  their  trust  in 
God  and  go  forward  in  the  solemn  path  of  duty 
which  his  providence  opens  before  them,  we, 
Ministers  and  Elders  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  South  Carolina  Synod  assembled,  would  give 


APPENDIX.  259 

tliem  our  benediction,  and  the  assurance  that  Ave 
shall  fervently  and  unceasingly  implore  for  them 
the  care  and  protection  of  Almighty  God." 

In  the  preamble  and  resolutions  adopted  by 
the  Presbytery  of  Charleston,  in  July,  1861,  we 
find  the  following :  "  The  relations  of  the  State 
of  South  Carolina  and  ten  other  adjacent  States, 
and  of  the  people  thereof,  with  the  other  States 
and  people  previously  composing  the  United 
States  of  America,  have  been  dissolved,  and  the 
former  united  in  the  separate  and  independent 
Government  of  the  Confederate  States  of  Amer- 
ica." The  United  States  Government  is  spoken 
of  as  one  "  foreign  and  hostile  to  our  own  " — "  a 
political  power  which  we,  in  common  Avith  our 
fellow-citizens  of  all  classes  and  all  Churches, 
have  disowned  and  rejected  ;  "  calls  the  Confeder- 
ate authorities  "  the  rightful  and  legal  authorities 
of  the  land ; "  declares  that  the  people  of  the 
United  States  "have  violated  the  Constitution 
under  which  Ave  Avere  originally  confederated,  and 
broken  the  covenant  entered  into  by  their  fathers 
and  ours  ;  "  and  concludes  :  "  We  do  most  heart- 
ily, Avitli  the  full  approval  of  our  consciences  be- 
fore our  Lord  God,  unanimously  approve  the 
action  of  the  States  and  people  of  the  Confeder- 
ate States  of  America." 

The  first  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  Confederate  States  met  in  Decem- 
ber, 1861.  It  assumed  in  all  its  proceedings  that 
the  political  bonds  Avhich  had  joined  them  to  the 
United  States  Avere  sundered,  and  that  the  Con- 
federate States  Avere  an  independent  government. 
Their  action  throughout  implicitly — their  letter 


2G0  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

to  all  the  Churches  throughout  the  world  explic- 
itly— recognized  the  Confederate  States  as  an 
actual  and  rightful  government,  thus  deciding  as 
a  Church  the  political  question  then  in  dispute 
and  unsettled  between  them  and  the  United 
States,  the  decision  of  vv^iich  had  been  committed 
by  both  parties  to  the  final  arbitrament  of  the 
sword.  In  the  Narrative  adopted  by  that  As- 
sembly they  say :  "  In  the  first  place,  we  notice 
the  relation  of  our  congregations  to  the  great 
struggle  in  which  we  are  engaged.  All  the 
Fresbyterial  Narratives  without  exception  men- 
tion the  fact,  that  their  congregations  have 
evinced  the  most  cordial  sympathy  with  the  peo- 
ple of  the  Confederate  States,  in  their  efforts  to 
maintain  their  cherished  rights  and  institutions 
against  the  despotic  power  which  is  attempting 
to  crush  them.  Deeply  convinced  that  this 
struggle  is  not  alone  for  civil  rights  and  property 
and  home,  but  also  for  religion,  for  the  Church, 
for  the  gospel,  for  existence  itself,  the  Churches 
in  our  connection  have  freely  contributed  to  its 
prosecution  of  their  substance,  their  pra3^ers,  and 
above  all,  of  their  members  and  the  beloved  youth 
of  their  congregations.  The  Assembly  desires  to 
record  with  its  solemn  approval  this  fact  of  the 
unanimity  of  our  people  in  supporting  a  contest  to 
Avhich  Religion,  as  well  as  Patriotism,  now  sum- 
mons the  citizens  of  this  country,  and  to  implore 
for  them  the  blessing  of  God  in  the  course  they 
are  now  pursuing." 

It  is  a  singular  instance  of  the  influence  of  times 
of  great  excitement  in  swerving  men  from  the  most 
cherished  principles  of  their  lives,  and  one  which 


APPENDIX.  261 

ought  to  teach  us  charity  for  each  other,  that  our 
Southern  brethren  who  had  so  long  and  loudly 
declared  that  slavery  was  a  political  question, 
with  which  the  Church  might  not  intermeddle, 
should  proclaim  to  the  Avorld,  as  they  did  in 
1864,  that  "it  is  the  peculiar  mission  of  the 
Southern  Church  to  conserve  the  institution  of 
slaver}^"  And  we  submit  that  our  affirmation  is 
made  good — all  Evangelical  Churches  in  the 
country,  both  North  and  South,  during  the  re- 
cent troubles,  took  precisely  the  same  ground  as 
our  General  Assembly. 

III.  All  Protestant  Churches  throughout  the 
world  reject  our  American  doctrine,  as  to  the 
relation  between  the  Church  and  the  State.  In 
the  Church  of  England,  the  king,  by  virtue  of 
his  office,  is  Head  of  the  Church.  He  prepared 
its  prayer  book,  ordained  its  rites  and  ceremo- 
nies, and  by  his  own  authority  set  up  its  whole 
framework.  The  queen  at  this  hour  is  the  su- 
preme head  of  the  Church,  the  fountain  of  all 
ecclesiastical  power.  Bishops  sit  in  Parliament, 
and  Parliament  is  the  supreme  arbiter  in  all  ques- 
tions of  ecclesiastical  law. 

In  all  Presbyterian  Churches  throughout  the 
world,  except  our  own,  there  is  both  theoretically 
and  practically  a  most  intimate  union  of  the 
temporal  and  the  spiritual  power. 

The  Westminster  Assembly,  which  composed 
our  noble  Standards,  Avas  convened  by  oi^der  of 
Parliament,  dissolved  by  it,  and  all  their  delib- 
erations directed  and  controlled  by  it.  The  23d 
chapter  of  the  Westminster  Confession,  as  pre- 


262  EIGHTY    YEA  US. 

pared  by  them  and  held  to  this  day  as  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Scotch  and  Irish  Presbyterian 
Churches,  declares  :  "  The  civil  magistrate  hath 
authority  and  it  is  his  duty  to  take  order  that 
unity  and  peace  be  preserved  in  the  Church,  that 
the  truth  of  God  be  kept  pure  and  entire,  that 
all  blasphemies  and  heresies  be  suppressed,  all 
corruptions  and  abuses  in  worship  and  discipline 
prevented  or  reformed,  and  all  the  ordinances  of 
God  duly  settled,  administered  and  observed. 
For  the  better  affecting  whereof,  he  hath  power 
to  call  Synods,  to  be  present  at  them,  and  to  pro- 
vide that  whatsoever  is  transacted  in  them  be  ac- 
cording to  the  mind  of  God."  Think  of  the 
president  of  the  United  States  deciding  the  ques- 
tions which  occupy  our  Church  Courts,  pronounc- 
ing upon  what  is  orthodox  in  doctrine  and  im- 
moral or  blasphemous  in  practice,  prescribing  the 
duties  of  Ministers  and  Church  Courts,  settling 
and  regulating  all  matters  of  worship  and  disci- 
pline, convoking,  dissolving,  presiding  over  our 
General  Assemblies ! 

Yet  all  this — it  is  the  doctrine  of  the  West- 
minster Confession — "  he  hath  authority,  and  it 
is  his  duty  "  to  do,  and  all  this  the  queen  of  Eng- 
land does  to  this  day  in  the  established  Church 
of  Scotland,  and  all  "^this  the  Free  Church  con- 
fesses it  is  her  right  and  her  duty  to  do.  And 
yet  alongside  of  such  a  doctrine  as  this  she  holds 
fast  to  the  Supreme  Headship  of  Christ,  and  has 
made  such  glorious  sacrifices  and  borne  such 
glorious  testimony  to  Christ's  crown  and  cove- 
nant. Such  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Scotland,  the  mother  of  us  all. 


APPENDIX.  263 

And  now,  the  final  conclusion  from  all  this  is : 
— If  the  acts  of  the  Assembly  during  the  last 
five  years  have  been  in  harmony  Avitli  the  pre- 
vious acts  of  our  highest  Church  Courts  from  the 
beginning, — if  they  have  been  in  harmony  with 
those  of  all  other  Evangelical  Churches,  North 
and  South,  if  they  have  been  in  harmony,  not 
only  with  the  practice  but  with  the  doctrine  of 
all  Presbyterian  and  all  Protestant  Churches 
throughout  the  world  except  our  own, — then  its 
error,  whatever  it  be,  cannot  be  either  fatal  or 
fundamental — then  the  question  as  to  the  rela- 
tion between  Church  and  State  cannot  be  an 
essential  one ;  and  error  of  doctrine  or  of  prac- 
tice on  such  a  subject  cannot  make  a  Church 
apostate — then  all  the  doctrines  of  salvation,  and 
all  the  ordinances  of  the  Church,  its  Ministry 
and  its  Sacraments,  may  be  preserved  entire, 
while  it  errs  as  to  a  question  of  only  occasional 
importance  and  inferior  concern.  If  the  General 
Assembly  has  become  apostate  because  of  its  ac- 
tions in  the  premises,  then  is  every  Church  on 
earth  apostate,  Christianitj^  has  vanished  from 
the  world,  and  the  kingdom  of  God  has  disap- 
peared from  among  men.  I  know  how  easy  it  is 
ia  excited  states  of  mind  to  magnif}^  "  the  jot  and 
tittle  "  into  the  "  weightier  matters  of  the  law," 
but  the  common  sense  of  all  men  recognizes  the 
distinction  between  essential  and  unessential  in 
questions  of  Doctrine  and  Duty ;  and  will  not 
make  the  question  before  us  "the  Article  of  a 
standing  or  falling  Church." 

And  let  me  ask  here,  why,  when  all  are  in  the 
same  condemnation,  should  our  Church  alone  be 


264  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

singled  out,  as  the  object  of  such  fierce  and  per- 
sistent assault  ?  And  why,  when  the  same  guilt 
must  rest  upon  the  conscience  of  every  member 
of  every  other  Church  in  the  land,  should  it  drive 
us  alone  to  division  and  schism  ? 

The  truth  corrupted  is  not  fundamental.  The 
error  imputed  is  not  fatal.  The  whole  question 
is  one  which  rises  into  importance  only  in  times 
of  great  political  excitement,  and  leaves  the  doc- 
trines of  Eedemption  and  the  ordinances  and 
institutions  of  the  Church  entirely  unaffected, 
and  error  with  reference  to  such  a  question  never 
can  justify  division.     This  is  our  first  position. 

The  second  is,  that  the  General  Assembly  is 
not  the  Church,  and  its  Acts  and  Deliverances 
alone  cannot  make  the  Church  apostate.  Our 
Constitution  and  laws  are  found  in  the  Bible  and 
our  written  Standards.  The  tribunals  to  inter- 
pret and  administer  them  are  a  series  of  Courts, 
of  which  the  General  Assembly  is  the  highest. 
It  is  a  representative  body  of  limited  and  care- 
fully defined  powers.  It  is  the  mere  creature  of 
the  Presbyteries,  subject  to  their  control,  liable 
to  be  modified  or  dissolved  by  them  at  any  time. 
The  Presbyteries  are  the  fountain  of  all  power  in 
Presbyterianism.  The  Assembly  is  not  a  per- 
manent body,  but  created  from  year  to  year,  by 
the  Presbyteries,  and  when  its  w^ork  is  done,  it 
is  not  adjourned  but  dissolved,  and  ceases  to  be, 
and  another  and  altogether  different  body  is 
again  created  by  the  Presbyteries.  The  Assem- 
bly can  make  no  Article  of  Faith,  ordain  no 
Constitutional  rule,  which  has  the  force  of  per- 
manent and  universal  law — that  belongs  to  the 


APPENDIX.  265 

Presbyteries  alone.  "Before  any  overtures  or 
regulations,  proposed  by  the  Assembly  to  be  es- 
tablished as  constitutional  rules,  shall  be  obliga- 
tory on  the  churches,  it  shall  be  necessary  to 
transmit  them  to  all  the  Presbyteries,  and  to  re- 
ceive the  returns  of  at  least  a  majority  of  them, 
in  writing,  approving  thereof." — Form  of  Gov. 
chap.  12,  sec.  6. 

The  Assemblies  sustain  the  same  relation  to 
the  Church  that  the  Congresses  elected  every 
two  years  do  to  the  Government,  and  constitute, 
not  the  Government,  but  only  so  many  different 
administrations  of  it,  and  are  changed  in  one 
case  by  the  people,  and  in  the  other  by  the  Pres- 
byteries at  will.  Their  acts  depend,  from  year 
to  year,  on  casual  majorities,  and  always  con- 
cern, not  the  doctrines,  or  order,  or  life  of  the 
Church  in  themselves,  but  only  the  application 
or  adaptation  of  these  to  the  emergent  exigencies 
of  times  and  circumstances. 

The  Assembly  exercises  two  broadly  distin- 
guishable functions,  those  of  Teaching  and  of 
Government.  As  a  teacher  it  interprets  and  de- 
clares the  revealed  will  of  God,  and  applies  it  to 
actual  circumstances  as  they  arise,  just  as  a  pas- 
tor in  his  pulpit  ministrations.  It  gives  utter- 
ance to  its  interpretations  and  applications  of  the 
word  of  God,  but  for  these  it  claims  no  infalli- 
bility. Our  Book  expressly  declares  "that  all 
Synods  and  Counsels  may  err,  and  have  erred." 
The  Assembly  has  never  laid  claim  to  infallibil- 
ity ;  always  admitted  its  liability  to  err,  and  one 
declares  and  teaches  what  another  rejects.     Our 


2G6  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

Book  expressly  denies  to  the  Assembly  all  power 
to  bind  the  conscience  or  enforce  its  own  Deliv- 
erances as  the  word  of  God.  It  expressly  recog- 
nizes the  right  of  private  judgment,  and  every 
member  of  the  Church  not  only  may,  but  is 
bound  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  them,  and  decide 
for  himself  whether  they  be  "  according  to  the 
word  of  God,  aside  from,  or  contrary  to  it." 
"  All  Synods  or  Councils  since  the  Apostles' 
time,  whether  ^general  or  particular,  may  err, 
and  many  have  erred,  therefore  they  are  not  to 
be  made  the  rule  of  faith  or  practice,  but  to 
be  used  as  a  help  in  both." — Con.  ch.  31,  sec.  3. 
"  God  alone  is  Lord  of  the  conscience,  and  hath 
left  it  free  from  the  doctrines  or  commandments 
of  men,  which  are  in  an^^thing  contrary  to  his 
word  or  beside  it  in  matters  of  faith  and  wor- 
ship ;  and  the  requiring  an  implicit  faith,  and 
an  absolute  and  blind  obedience,  is  to  destroy 
liberty  of  conscience  and  reason  also." — Con.  ch. 
20,  sec.  2. 

Every  Assembly  recognizes  the  absolute  right 
of  protest,  dissent  and  open  difference  from  its 
Acts  and  Deliverances,  and  if  rash  Avords  have 
been  sometimes  spoken,  and  hasty  actions  some- 
times taken,  which  seemed  to  infringe  upon  this 
right,  no  Assembly  has  ever  deliberately  called 
it  in  question,  and  none  ever  will.  All  the  Acts 
of  Assemblies  preceding  1865  were  in  discharge 
of  the  office  of  instruction.  They  simply  de- 
clared, as  helpers  of  your  faith,  what  they  be- 
lieved to  be  the  truth,  and  you  are  left  free  to 
receive  or  reject  their  testimony  as  it  is  according 
to  the  word  of  God,  aside  from  or  contrary  to 


APPENDIX.  267 

it.  IIow  can  such  instructions  bind  the  faith  or 
Avound  the  conscience  ? 

Xo  Presbyterian  surely  can  regard  any  man, 
or  any  body  of  men,  Synod,  Council  or  Assem- 
bly, as  infallible,  or  accept  their  utterances  as 
oracles.  We  recognize  but  one  infallible  Stand- 
ard of  faith  and  practice — the  Holy  Scriptures. 
We  know  no  infallible  interpreters  of  these,  but 
using  all  as  "  helps  to  our  faith  and  practice," 
every  one  for  himself,  in  the  exercise  of  his  pri- 
vate judgment,  and  upon  his  own  personal  respon- 
sibility, receives  or  rejects.  This  is  the  glory  of 
Protestantism.  It  is  a  fundamental  principle  of 
Presbyterianism,  and  Ave  are  amazed  that  any 
should  doubt  or  hesitate  Avith  reference  to  it. 

But  the  Assembly  exercises  also  the  poAver  of 
government.  It  is  a  court  of  last  appeal,  and 
its  judicial  decisions  once  pronounced  are  per- 
emptory and  final.  The  Assembly  of  1865  ex- 
ercised its  power  of  government  Avhen  it  required 
the  lower  courts — Sessions  and  Presbyteries  and 
Synods — to  examine  all  applicants  for  admission 
from  the  South  into  the  bodies  under  their  care, 
upon  the  subjects  of  loyalty  and  freedom,  and  to 
require  repentance  from  all  Avho  had  offended  in 
faith  or  in  practice  Avith  reference  to  either. 
Their  Deliverance  here,  though  not  a  law  in  the 
proper  sense  of  that  Avord,  but  only  an  order, 
took  the  form  of  laAv,  as  it  prescribed  something 
to  be  done,  and  as  such,  for  our  present  purpose, 
Ave  Avill  regard  it. 

Let  us  look  here  at  the  reason  for  this  laAv — the 
conditions  it  implied  and  the  end  it  was  designed 
to  reach,  that  Ave  may  see  Avhat  it  really  was,  for 


268  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

a  high  authority  has  told  us:  "  He  that  knoweth 
not  the  reason  of  a  law,  knoweth  not  the  law  it- 
self." It  had  respect  only  to  those  who  had  been 
voluntary  participants  in  the  rebellion,  and  to 
them  only  when  they  made  voluntary  application 
for  admission.  It  did  not  go  out  to  seek  them. 
It  Avas  enacted  just  when  the  war  had  closed,  just 
Avhen  soldiers  from  both  armies  were  returning 
to  their  homes,  and  in  the  Border  States  meeting 
in  the  same  congregations.  It  was  just  after  the 
assassination  of  President  Lincoln,  when  the  pub- 
lic mind  was  almost  frenzied — that  time  never  to 
be  forgotten  of  wild  and  terrible  excitement.  In 
the  Border  States,  especially  in  portions  of  Ken- 
tucky and  Missouri,  where  the  tempest  of  passion 
was  fiercest,  many  churches  were  threatened  with 
scenes  of  violence  and  bloodshed,  on  the  very 
floors  of  their  sanctuaries,  by  reason  of  the  pres- 
ence of  these  returned  soldiers.  Members  and 
officers  of  the  churches  from  these  localities  ap- 
peared before  the  Assembly  and  its  committee 
and  plead  that,  for  their  own  protection,  they 
must  have  power  over  their  membership  to  ex- 
clude those  whose  presence  threatened  to  pro- 
voke violence,  until  passion  should  have  time 
to  subside.  To  meet  this  emergency,  and  under 
the  impression  of  representations  such  as  these, 
the  orders  of  1865  were  passed.  In  their  very 
nature,  as  well  as  in  the  intention  of  the  As- 
sembly, they  were  temporary.  They  soon  ex- 
pired of  their  own  limitation,  having  accom- 
plished all  they  were  intended  to  accomplish,  and 
became,  like  multitudes  of  laws  upon  your  stat- 
ute books,  a  dead  letter. 


APPENDIX.  269 

Such,  beyond  all  question,  the  last  Assembly 
regarded  them.  I  stated  without  question  or  re- 
buive,  openl}^  on  the  floor  of  the  Assembly,  that 
the  Presbytery  of  Baltimore  had  not  enforced 
them — that  I  did  not  believe  there  was  a  single 
Session  within  its  bounds  which  had  done  so. 
Some  twenty  others  stated  the  same  fact  on  be- 
half of  their  Presbyteries  and  Sessions,  and  no 
one  was  called  to  account.  There  Avas  not  a 
word  said  publicly  or  privately  about  enforcing 
them,  which  ever  came  to  my  ears.  The  reason 
of  the  law  does  not  now  apply  to  the  churches 
even  of  the  border,  and  its  reason  ceasing,  the 
law  itself  has  passed  away. 

Not  only  by  silent  acquiescence,  but  by  posi- 
tive action  the  last  Assembly  declared  its  judg- 
ment that  the  orders  of  1SG5  w^ere  not  now  of 
force. 

''  It  having  come  to  the  knowledge  of  this  body 
that  some  of  the  ministers  under  our  care,  not 
able  to  subscribe  to  the  recent  Testimonies  of  the 
General  Assembly  on  the  subjects  of  loyalty  and 
freedom,  and  that  some  who  have  not  signed  or 
formally  approved  the  Declaration  and  Testi- 
mony, do,  nevertheless,  hesitate  to  comply  with 
the  requirements  of  the  last  Assembly,  touching 
the  reception  of  members  from  the  South,  known, 
or  supposed  to  have  been  in  sympathy  with  the 
rebellion ;  therefore, 

^'' Resolved^  That  while  we  would  treat  such 
ministers  with  kindness  and  forbearance,  and 
would  by  no  means  interfere  with  the  full  and 
free  discussion  on  their  part  of  the  Testimonies 
and  requirements  referred  to,  Ave  deem  it  a  sol- 


270  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

emn  duty  which  we  owe  to  them  and  to  the 
Church,  to  guard  them  against  giving  counte- 
nance in  any  way  to  dechirations  and  movements 
whicli  are  defiant  of  the  Assembly's  authority, 
and  schismatical  in  their  tendency  and  aim,  and 
we  do  earnestly  exhort  them,  in  the  name  and 
for  the  sake  of  our  common  Lord  and  Master,  to 
study  and  pursue  the  things  which  make  for 
peace." — Proceedings^  1866,  jy.  103. 

This  resolution,  for  I  know  its  history,  was 
designed  to  declare  two  things :  First,  that 
lower  courts  who  should  fail  to  carry  out  the 
orders  of  the  Assembly  of  1S65,  were  not  to  be 
held  to  account  for  such  failure.  Second,  that 
those  who  refused  in  a  spirit  of  defiance  to  the 
Assembly's  authority,  and  expressed  that  refusal 
in  terms  of  defiance,  should  be  held  to  account 
not  for  the  refusal  but  for  the  defiance. 

This  is  expressed  still  more  plainly  in  another 
resolution : 

"  The  dissatisfaction  and  discontent  consequent 
upon  the  Deliverances  of  the  Assembly  of  1865 
are  abating  with  increased  knowledge  of  the  de- 
sign and  propriety  of  these  decisions,  and  it  is 
confidently  believed  that  maturer  reflection  will 
produce  a  fuller  acquiescence  in  the  authority  of 
the  Church.  It  is  alike  the  past  and  present 
purpose  of  our  Church  to  preserve  within  its  fold 
all  who  sincerely  and  earnestly  love  its  order  and 
doctrines,  and  to  fan  into  life  and  energy  every 
lingering  spark  of  genuine  attachment  to  our 
faith  and  order,  which  may  exist  in  those  por- 
tions of  our  country  where  the  spirit  and  unre- 
lenting power  of  the  rebellion  drove  many  true 


APPENDIX.  271 

and  loyal  Presbyterians  into  a  hostile  attitude 
toward  the  Churcli  and  the  Country.  With  this 
enlarged  and  Christian  view  it  is  appropriate  to 
declare,  that  Avhilst  the  testimony  and  authority 
of  our  Church  are  to  be  obeyed,  the  fullest  Chris- 
tian liberty  of  opinion  is  tolerated  and  protected, 
and  no  enforcement  of  the  Deliverances  of  our 
Church  is  expected  or  demanded,  except  that 
which  will  debar  from  our  couimunion  and 
Church  courts  all  those  who  refuse  to  submit  to 
"  the  powers  that  be,"  and  remain  in  willful  an- 
tagonism to  the  manifestations  of  God's  j)rovi- 
dence  and  the  authoritative  decisions  of  our 
Church." — Proceedings^  18G6,  ^;>.  107. 

And  still  again  :  "  Wliile  tiie  last  Assembly 
but  fulfilled  its  duty  in  issuing  these  injunctions, 
(those  of  18G5,)  it  left  their  application  tothe  p>^^'- 
sons  concerned^  entirely  to  the  loicer  courts.^'' — • 
Proceedings^  p.  100.  This  expressly  recognizes 
everything  we  have  affirmed  as  to  the  order  of 
1865. 

But  why,  it  is  asked,  was  not  the  Act  in  ques- 
tion explicitly  and  formally  repealed  ?  For  two 
sufficient  reasons.  First,  because  the  majority 
would  not  consent  to  its  repeal,  in  the  face  of 
what  they  considered  a  spirit  of  rebellion  against 
its  rightful  authority  in  the  case.  And  second, 
because  many  who  would  have  consented  hekl 
that  as  each  Assembly  is  independent  in  an  im- 
portant sense  of  every  other,  one  cannot  repeal 
the  Acts  of  another. 

And  now  I  affirm  here,  in  presence  of  you  all, 
in  my  own  behalf  and  in  behalf  of  every  pastor 
and  ever}^  Session  in  this  city,  the  Assembly  has 


272  EIGHTY    YEARS. 

put  no  burden  upon  our  conscience.  It  has 
bound  no  fetters  upon  our  hands.  We  preach 
and  we  administer  the  laws  of  Christ's  House 
just  as  we  have  always  done.  We  exact  no  new 
terms  of  communion,  we  require  nothing  more 
than  we  have  always  required  of  those  in  our 
communion,  or  of  those  seeking  admission  into 
it.  Extraordinary  measures  have  passed  away 
with  the  extraordinary  times  which  called  them 
forth,  and  like  the  soldier  we  leave  the  field  and 
lay  aside  the  harness  for  the  peaceful  walks  in 
spiritual  industry  again. 

As  to  the  j^ast  at  least  our  course  is  clear. 
There  is  nothing  there  to  drive  us  from  the 
Church  of  our  fathers.  AVhat  the  future  may 
have  in  store  for  us  is  known  only  to  God.  We 
are  told  that  the  spirit  of  violence  and  fanati- 
cism has  taken  such  thorough  possession  of  those 
we  once  delighted  to  call  our  brethren  in  Christ, 
and  of  the  Church  we  once  so  loved,  that  it  can 
never  be  exorcised.  I  cannot  discern  the  spirits, 
I  cannot  foresee  the  future,  but  I  will  wait  at 
least  till  the  evil  come.  We  may  be  told  that 
the  New  and  the  Old  School  Churches  will  unite 
in  the  North  as  they  have  already  done  in  the 
South,  and  a  new  flood  of  fanaticism  will  be  let 
in  upon  us.  I  do  not  know  what  shall  be  on  the 
morrow,  but,  meantime,  I  will  stand  in  my  lot 
and  wait  till  the  predicted  evil  comes.  "Suffi- 
cient unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof,"  and 
prophets  of  evil  are  not  always  inspired.  It 
may  be  that  truth  has  somehow  lost  its  old  om- 
nipotence, and  error  has  seized  upon  its  power — 


APPENDIX.  273 

but  I  do  not  believe  it.  And  however  truth 
nmy  be  obscured  and  buried  for  the  time  in  the 
dust  of  the  arena  where  she  struggles,  she  will 
rise  again.  "  The  immortal  years  of  God  are 
hers."  And  I  will  toil,  and  pray,  and  wait,  and 
watch  for  her  hour  of  triumph — for  come  it  Avill, 
however  long  delayed.  Great  truths  always 
make  their  way  slowly  and  work  themselves  by 
almost  imperceptible  degrees  into  the  life  of  the 
Church.  It  was  through  the  lapse  of  ages  and 
alternate  victories  and  defeats  often  repeated,  Ave 
have  at  last  acquired  the  glorious  trophies  we 
possess  to-night.  It  was  reserved  for  the  Presby- 
terians of  this  land  to  discover  ar\|l  propound  to 
the  Churches  all  over  Christendom  the  true  theory 
of  the  relations  between  Church  and  State.  Not 
one  of  them  ail  has  yet  attained  to  that  theory, 
though  they  are  slowly  making  their  way  toward 
it.  And  even  if  we  do  not  always  clearly  dis- 
cern and  unfalteringly  carry  it  out  to  all  its  prac- 
tical conclusions,  every  fresh  failure  serves  but 
for  a  new  warning  and  a  new  incitement  for  the 
future,  and  so  helps  on  the  final  triumph. 

And  now,  since  our  consciences  and  our  hands 
are  left  free,  we  are  at  liberty  to  look  at  the 
practical  evils  of  separation. 

1.  The  law  of  love  is  the  fundamental  law  of 
Christ's  House.  Sins  against  truth,  as  against 
every  other  doctrine  and  every  other  grace  are 
but  sins  against  the  statutes  of  the  Kingdom; 
sins  against  charity  are  sins  against  its  very 
Constitution.  Do  violence  to  any  other  law  of 
the  House  and  you  only  rend  away  a  pillar  from 


274:  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

its  portico  or  a  stone  from  its  walls ;  do  violence 
to  the  law  of  love  and  you  tear  up  its  very  foun- 
dation and  make  the  whole  building  a  ruin. 
"  The  greatest  of  these  is  charity."  "  God  is 
love,  and  he  that  loveth  not,  knoweth  not  God." 
"  A  new  commandment,"  said  the  great  Founder 
and  Legislator  of  the  Kingdom,  "  I  give  unto 
you,  that  ye  love  one  another."  "Hereby  shall 
all  men  know  that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye  have 
love  one  to  another."  "Love  one  to  another," 
that  I  appoint  as  your  badge  and  your  rallying 
cry.  That  I  give  unto  you  with  these  bleeding 
hands,  starred  with  my  tears  and  striped  with 
my  blood,  as^our  consecrated  banner-flag,  ever 
to  wave  before  your  ranks  and  distinguish  you 
amidst  the  gatherings  of  the  hosts.  We  may 
err  as  to  our  duty  in  what  belongs  to  us  as  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  and  what  as  citizens  of  the 
State.  "We  may  not  always  discern  the  dim 
boundary  line  which  separates  the  secular  from 
the  spiritual,  and  sometimes  may  transgress  upon 
the  one  side  or  the  other ;  and  the  error  may  be 
recovered  and  forgiven,  and  work  no  fatal  injury 
to  our  souls.  But  if  Ave  have  lost  "  love  one  to 
another,"  Ave  have  lost  our  badge,  Ave  have  lost 
our  banner,  Ave  have  lost  everything,  and  neither 
God  nor  man  can  knoAv  us  as  Christ's  disciples. 
"  A  neAv  commandment  I  give  unto  you.  That  3^e 
love  one  another.  By  this  shall  all  men  know 
that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye  have  love  one  to 
another."  Strange,  my  brethren,  A\4ien  we  speak 
so  often  of  our  zeal  for  truth  and  tell  so  often  of 
our  sacrifice  for  principle,  Ave  should  speak  so 
little  of  our  zeal  for  charity  and  tell  so  little  of 


APPENDIX.  275 

our  sacrifice  for  love.     "  Above  all  things  put  on 
charity." 

If  it  be  indeed  true  that  Christians  of  the 
l^Torth  and  Christians  of  the  South  "hate  each 
other  with  such  a  cruel  hatred  "  that  they  cannot 
dwell  together — if  it  be  indeed  true  that  those 
who  once  loved  and  trusted  each  other,  and  went 
up  to  the  House  of  God  in  company,  can  love 
and  trust  each  other  no  longer,  then  is  the  glory 
departed.  If  passion  and  hatred  be  the  only 
ground  of  separation,  then  indeed  are  we  no 
longer  Christ's  disciples.  And  should  these  im- 
pel us  still  further  to  break  the  bonds  of  external 
unity  and  rend  asunder  the  boci^  of  Christ, 
which  is  his  Church,  then  are  we  guilty  of  the 
sin  of  schism.  It  is  no  small  sin  to  rend  and 
separate  what  Christ  has  made  one, — no  small 
sin  to  make  a  fresh  wound  in  that  scarred  body 
of  his, — no  small  sin  to  introduce  division  and 
strife  into  the  household  of  faith,  and  plant  the 
seeds  of  discord  and  contentions  among  those 
who  are  called  to  dwell  together  in  love — to 
charm  by  fell  incantations  the  serpent  into  the 
bowers  of  our  only  earthly  Paradise.  We  pray 
God  that  the  guilt  of  schism  may  never  rest 
upon  your  soul  or  upon  mine. 

2.  "Whither  shall  we  go,  if  we  go  out  self- 
exiled  from  the  house  of  our  fathers?  Where 
but  Cain-like  to  wander  as  fugitives  and  vaga- 
bonds upon  the  face  of  the  whole  earth,  houseless 
and  homeless  ?  We  can  find  no  Church  Xorth  or 
South  to  shelter  us,  for  the  same  leprous  spot  is 
upon  all  alike.     Independency — A  Presbyterian 


276  EIGHTY   YEARS. 

without  Presbyterianism  ?  The  house  is  too 
small,  and  it  rests  upon  a  foundation  of  narrow 
and  shifting  sands.  In  a  little  time  the  questions 
which  now  absorb  us,  and  to  our  excited  feelings 
loom  up  so  largely  as  to  fill  the  whole  spiritual 
heavens,  will  be  altogether  forgotten  or  dwarfed 
and  dwindled  down  to  their  true  dimensions. 
When  these  political  feelings,  heated  as  they 
have  become,  in  the  fires  of  this  fierce  contro- 
versy, shall  have  cooled  down — when  new  parties 
shall  have  arisen,  and  new  issues  been  joined, 
confounding  all  the  lines  and  landmarks  of  the 
present,  and  ranging  us  in  new^  ranks,  we  will 
look  back  upon  the  passions  of  the  hour  as  but 
the  distorted  visions  of  a  distempered  dream. 
No !  the  passions  and  excitements  of  the  passing 
day,  dignify  and  baptize  them  by  whatever  hal- 
lowed name  of  truth  or  principle  we  may,  are 
not  broad  enough  or  firm  enough  to  furnish  a 
foundation  on  which  a  Church  of  God  may 
rest.  The  world  is  covered  all  over  with  the 
wreck  and  ruin  of  such,  built  as  they  were 
upon  the  sands,  "  and  daubed  with  untempered 
mortar." 

3.  The  wounds  inflicted  by  these  last  terrible 
years  are  not  yet  healed — shall  we  open  them  all 
afresh  ?  Through  our  families  and  our  congre- 
gations shall  we  plow  fresh  furrows  of  discord 
and  division,  before  the  marks  of  the  old  are  ef- 
faced ?  Shall  we  present  to  the  world  the  spec- 
tacle of  strifes  and  debatings  in  the  House  of  God 
— the  home  of  Love  and  the  sanctuary  of  Peace  ? 
Shall  we  bring  upon  ourselves  the  shame  of 
wrangling  with  each  other  in  secular  courts  for 


APPENDIX.  277 

the  temples  of  our  God  ?  Shall  we  lay  up  for 
ourselves  a  heritage  of  alienations  and  antipa- 
thies to  spoil  our  future  peace,  and  soil  and  sear 
our  souls  ?  Shall  we  transmit  to  our  children  a 
legacy  of  discords  and  divisions,  and  poison  their 
opening  minds  with  the  deadly  nightshade  of 
our  strifes  ?  Shall  we  plant  in  this  community 
the  seeds  of  a  hereditary  hate,  which  shall  spring 
up  and  ripen  into  their  fearful  harvest  long  after 
we  are  slumbering  in  our  graves  ?  Shall  we  em- 
body and  make  perpetual  the  passions  of  the 
hour  which  have  brought  upon  us  such  a  terrible 
baptism  of  blood  ?  Would  we  embalm  and 
transmit  them  as  monuments  and  memorials  of 
these  evil  days  ?  Would  we  vivify  and  leave 
them  behind  us  to  scatter  among  our  children 
poisoned  arrows  and  death  ?  No,  my  brethren ; 
let  us  extinguish  them  in  our  own  hearts.  Let 
us  destroy  every  monument  and  every  memorial 
of  them  which  we  had  thought  to  leave  behind. 
Let  us  repair  witli  united  hands  the  desolation 
they  have  already  wrought ;  and  be  careful  that 
we  do  not  transmit  them  as  a  legacy  of  strife 
and  blood  to  our  children  and  our  children's 
children.  It  is  easy  to  plant  the  seeds  of  heredi- 
tary strife,  for  our  children  catch  our  spirit,  in- 
herit our  passions,  and  prolong  our  conflicts. 
And  here,  upon  the  border,  with  those  passions 
which  lately  burned  so  fiercely,  still  smoldering, 
let  us  be  careful  that  our  breath  fan  them  not 
into  a  fiercer  flame.  God  is  calling  us — loudly 
calling  us  to  ministries  of  love.  Whose  hands 
shall  be  busied  in  binding  up  these  bleeding 
wounds  if  not  ours  ?   If  the  Church  be  not  found 


278  EIGHTY    YEAKS. 

at  this  hour  engaged  in  the  blessed  work,  by 
whom  shall  it  be  done  ? 

As  for  me,  I  cannot  leave  the  Church  of  my 
fathers.  As  soon  would  I  think  of  forsaking 
the  mother  who  bore  me,  for  a  rash  act  or  a 
hasty  word.  She  received  me  into  her  shelter- 
ing arms  in  infancy ;  sprinkled  the  waters  of  bap- 
tism upon  my  brow ;  cherished  my  childhood ; 
led  my  tottering  steps  to  her  sanctuaries,  and 
surrounded  me  all  my  life  long  with  her  blessed 
ministries  of  instruction  and  of  love.  God  is  in 
the  midst  of  her,  for  I  have  seen  his  glory  and 
felt  his  presence,  and,  as  I  trust,  experienced  his 
grace  in  her  temples.  The  provisions  of  her 
house  have  been  sweet  to  my  taste,  and  under 
her  shadow  have  I  sat  these  many  years  with 
great  delight.  Kindred  and  friends,  one  after 
one,  have  I  seen  them  ascend  from  her  courts  in 
the  chariots  of  fire,  to  join  the  ransomed  Church 
above,  and  their  memories  still  hallow  her  sanc- 
tuaries. And  with  these  memories  of  all  she  has 
been,  and  all  she  has  done  for  me  and  those  most 
dear  to  me,  still  fresh  and  warm  in  my  heart,  I 
cannot,  no,  I  cannot  forsake  her  now. 

Times  of  trial  and  conflict  may  come.  But 
such  were  no  new  thing  in  her  history,  baptized  as 
she  was  in  the  blood  of  persecution  and  nurtured 
amidst  the  storms  of  revolution.  She  bears  to- 
day the  scars  of  many  a  conflict,  but  from  each  in 
turn  she  came  forth  victorious.  The  smell  of 
many  a  furnace  is  upon  her  to-day,  but  the 
flames  of  each  kindled  upon  her  not  to  destroy, 
but  only  to  purify  and  preserve.  We  glory  in 
her  past  history.     We  bless  God  for  all  she  has 


APPENDIX.  279 

been  permitted  to  do  for  his  truth  and  his 
worship,  and  for  the  salvation  of  men.  And 
to-day  she  still  stands  amidst  the  tribes  of  Israel, 
her  glorious  banner  streaming,  as  of  old,  in  the 
front  rank  of  the  Sacramental  Host.  What 
though  confusion  may  happen  for  the  moment  to 
a  little  portion  of  her  ranks,  the  mighty  host  is 
still  moving  onward,  for  her  God  is  with  her — 
her  Glory  and  her  Defense.  And  never,  perhaps, 
has  he  given  such  abundant  tokens  of  his  pres- 
ence and  his  power  in  her  sanctuaries  as  during 
the  past  year.  Never,  perhaps,  was  his  Spirit 
more  largely  poured  out  or  more  numerous  con- 
verts gathered  into  her  bosom.  Ah,  my  breth- 
ren, this  is  what  we  want, — to  have  our  minds 
turned  away  from  these  ephemeral  questions  to 
the  great  things  which  pertain  to  the  King.  A 
revival  of  religion,  an  outpouring  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  upon  our  churches,  and  our  own  souls — 
how  soon  this  would  hush  all  these  agitations 
and  unite  all  our  hearts  in  the  unity  of  the 
Spirit  and  the  bonds  of  peace. 


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